Epiphany 4 (B) + Jesus knows / Jesus sabe + 1.28.24

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M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Deut. 18:15–20; S./Ps. 111; 1 Cor. 8:1–13; S. Mar. 1:21–28)

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. El conocimiento hincha de orgullo, en tanto que el amor edifica la comunidad.”

In the recent film “Rustin” (Netflix, 2023), we learn about the civil rights organizer Bayard Rustin. A good friend of Martin Luther King, Jr., Rustin was a controversial figure because he was gay. Bayard Rustin no fue popular con todos en el movimiento para derechos civiles porque fue homosexual, pero fue muy comprometido al movimiento para cambio entre los Afro-Americanos en los EEUU. Yet he was a committed and immensely talented organizer who was also very valued by many in the civil rights organizing community, not only for his gifts but also for his personal charm and charisma. Throughout the film, we learn not only how he pulled together the March on Washington in record time, but also about how he did so while facing those who wanted to discredit and exclude him due to his sexuality. Many treated his orientation like a demon to be exorcised. Muchos le querían excluir y querían expulsar su sexualidad como un demonio. However, he knew he was born this way and remained firm in his abilities.

To me this movie stands in stark contrast to the gospel reading from today, and the man with the unclean spirit. Esto es muy diferente a la historia de hoy del hombre con el espíritu impuro. Sometimes society wants to cleanse us of something, but only Jesus and we know the demons we face, and what is just a part of us. Solo Jesús sabe cuáles son nuestros demonios y que es solamente una parte de nosotros que otros no aceptan.

We have to look with the eyes of the heart. Tenemos que mirar con los ojos del corazón. As you see in Jesus’ interaction with the man who is possessed today, he is in the temple and what is required here is not his intellect, but his heart and spirit. A heart to release this man from a spirit of bondage and fill him with the Holy Spirit. Aquí en la escritura vemos que Jesús está en la sinagoga en Cafarnaúm y entra el señor con un demonio. Y no requiere intelecto, sino que Jesús tenga el amor y un espíritu para ayudarlo al señor. Para quitar el espíritu impuro y abrirle para recibir el Espíritu Santo.

At church we run into this all the time. We truly are a hospital for sinners. At feeding programs and when we are open in normal times all sorts of people come who are in distress. Sometimes I miss the mark- I try to deal with the situation intellectually or just meet the physical need that presents. But when Jesus is truly with me, I see the other hurts and try to listen to those, too. En la iglesia vemos que somos un hospital para los pecadores. En la dispensa o en Pan de Vida y o por teléfono viene o llama gente que está en necesidad. Y a veces trato de solucionar sus problemas intelectualmente o solo responder a la necesidad inmediata. Pero cuando siento que Jesús está conmigo, a veces escucho la necesidad más profunda y podemos orar o hacer algo para sanar a la persona.

During the height of COVID, we began to realize something personally, also. We began to be aware of our crutches. Nos dimos cuenta de las cosas de las cuales estamos demasiados dependientes en el tiempo de COVID. Do we rely too much on food or drink, or social media or TV? ¿Estamos demasiados dependientes en comida, bebidas alcohólicas, las redes sociales o televisión? We need certain things to distract us from the fears of our lives, but we also need to invest time in prayer, in reading the Bible and in journaling and understanding our feelings so that we can release them to God as best we can, not just cover over the darkness. A veces las distracciones son útiles, pero necesitamos invertir tiempo en orar, en leer la Biblia, en escribir en nuestros diarios para entender mejor a nuestras emociones para poder liberarnos de ellos un poco. Para entender y no solo cubrir la oscuridad.

The man in today’s gospel reading needed the darkness to be released from him in order to let in the light of the Holy Spirit. El hombre en la lectura del evangelio de hoy necesitaba que la oscuridad sea liberada de el para dejar entrar la luz del Espíritu Santo.  What do you need to release today to let in the light? ¿Qué tiene que soltar Ud. hoy para dejar entrar la luz?

I know that for me, worshipping with you all has really helped me, as has praying the Daily Office and writing in a journal almost daily. Praying the healing rosary in Spanish once a week and meeting with our English speakers to delve into another aspect of the Scriptures has helped me to grow spiritually and leave room to let the Holy Spirit in during a time that continues to be dark at times. Sé que para mí durante este tiempo la alabanza con todos Ustedes me ha ayudado con esto. También orar diariamente y escribir casi diariamente en un jornal de oración. Rezando el rosario de sanidad un día a la semana con los hispanohablantes cuando podemos, y estudiar la biblia los miércoles con los inglés-hablantes me ha dejado espacio para el Espíritu Santo en este tiempo a veces muy oscuro.

I give thanks for you all on this Sunday of our annual meeting and close with some thoughts by the Sufi mystic Rumi, from his poem “A Community of the Spirit”:
Consider what you have been doing.

Why do you stay

with such a mean-spirited and dangerous partner?

…

Why do you stay in prison

when the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.[1]

The entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.[2]

-Vacíate de la preocupación. ¿Por qué te quedas en prisión cuando la puerta es tan amplia? Muévete fuera de la maraña del miedo.[3]

Let us trust that when we let go of that which has held us captive, we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit who will renew our lives and fill them with joy again after the suffering. Que confiemos que cuando dejamos salir lo que nos ha cautivado, estaremos abiertos al Espíritu Santo quien los renovará y nos traerá gozo de nuevo, después de sufrimiento.



[1] https://thelinebreak.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/rumi-a-community-of-the-spirit/.

[2] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7234083-why-do-you-stay-in-prison-when-the-door-is#:~:text=Quotes%20%3E%20Quotable%20Quote-,%E2%80%9CWhy%20do%20you%20stay%20in%20prison%20when%20the%20door%20is,the%20sanctuary%20is%20inside%20you.%E2%80%9D

[3] https://www.lifeder.com/frases-rumi/

 


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