Those of the way

God morning today is Sunday, many blessings and Happy Mother’s Day.

I remind you that today we will have masses in English & ASL ‪at 10:00 am ‬and in Spanish & ASL ‪at 12:00 pm‬. Both will be broadcast live on Facebook. Connect: https://m.facebook.com/HolyroodSCruz/.

As Jesus tells his disciples in John 14:1-14 that he is the way, there are multiple meanings involved. During the sermon I’m going to argue that because it is a walk in the footsteps of Jesus, with that compassionate attitude, with that openness to all, in that spirit of breaking down barriers of all kinds. Let us not forget that this "movement of followers of Jesus", just as it was for himself, is dangerous for the static religion, the dogmatic one, which seeks to recognize itself alongside the political power.

Also I’m going to claim that walking is the best way to feel alive. And doing it in the spirit of Jesus is the best way to make others live too. How beautiful it would be if we still called ourselves "those of the way"! In his walk he met all kinds of people in need. And he was the walker who took time to attend to them. The needs were multiple in a time of immense poverty for the majority, the enormous wealth of a few, and a Roman oppressive power that conditioned every aspect of life.

The first name that Jesus' followers received was "Those of the Way." A really important name, because they were the one, they gave themselves. "Christian" was given to them by the others, by the people in Antioch.

Furthermore, people heard different ways of talking about God that ultimately separated them from Him. Many of these poor illiterates did not have time to obey the details of religious prescriptions. Therefore, they were considered the outsiders. When it seemed that they were hopeless to their own solitude, the Walker suddenly appeared, who, as the Spaniard poet Antonio Machado would say, was making his way ...


During the sermon I’m going to challenge you so you can recognize and accept the path of compassion, of dignity, of encounters with the marginalized, of acceptance of the unacceptable, of forgiveness, of the God of life. The followers of Jesus understood that his life was a call to follow him along the routes of Galilee, a place of need. They knew that his life was a way. Didn't he say so? "I am the way". They did not understand that the world had to come to them. Rather, they felt called to go to the world as their Mentor: to do good. Are we also "those of the way"?


This is how we know and practice the Way. Enjoy this Mother's Day and do not lose faith, hugs and kisses will return.

Blessings,

Fr. Luis