Proper 22 C + Follow/Seguir + 10/5/25
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Lam. 1:1–6; Ps./S. 137; 2 Tim. 1:1–14; San Lucas/Luke 17:5–10)
This week, we celebrated St Francis Day with the blessing of
the animals. Esta semana celebramos a San Francisco de Asís y
bendecimos a los animales. Pero San Francisco era mucho más que solo un
recordatorio de amar a nuestras mascotas (que bien los amamos.) But of course, he was about a lot
more than loving animals, even though we love them a lot! He modeled what we
now call care of creation and simple living. A Great Cloud of Witnesses
attests that he was born in 1182 to a wealthy merchant family, and at first, he
lived the good life.
Él modelaba una vida de fe.
Nacido a una familia próspera en Italia, y después de una juventud de mucho
festejar, él decidió dejar a todo para seguir a Jesús. Se unió a la que llamaba
“La Señora Pobreza” y fundó un orden de frailes religiosos.
Then he had encounters with the divine that led him in a
different direction. He renounced his life of splendor and embraced Lady
Poverty, founding a religious order. Because he lived such an ascetic life, it
has been said of him that “Of all the saints, Francis is the most popular and
admired but probably the least imitated; few have attained to his total
identification with the poverty and suffering of Christ.”[1]
Hablando de San Francisco, se dice
que él fue buen amado, pero no bien seguido, aunque hay órdenes religiosos y
laicos inspirados por el que existen en todo el mundo.
In some ways, he is greatly loved but rarely followed, at
least directly, although there are thriving religious and lay orders dedicated
to his example worldwide.
En el evangelio de hoy, Jesús
habla a sus seguidores. Y habla sobre la dificultad de seguirlo a él.
¿Qué significa? En el pasaje antes de esto, dice que no es tropezar a nadie y
es perdonar a todos, no importa lo malos que son.
In today’s gospel, Jesus
talks to his followers about the difficulty of following him. What does it mean
to follow him? Looking at the passage before this one, we are reminded that we
must not cause others to stumble, and we must forgive and forgive again, even
when it is hard.
¡No es de sorprender que los
discípulos piden más fe! Tal vez como sencillos seres humanos ellos sienten que
van a fallar.
No wonder the disciples ask him to give them more faith!
Perhaps they feel that, as mere human beings, they will lead others astray or
fail to forgive in their hearts, no matter how hard they try.
Esto me hace recordar algo que
he escuchado de Missy Morain, quien trabaja en la diócesis con la formación de
los niños, jóvenes y adultos. Ella dice que, en nuestro bautismo, nos comprometemos
a fallar. We sign up to
mess up, she says!
A first reminder here that I love and heard from Missy
Morain, our diocesan lead for children’s, youth, and adult formation, is this:
in our tradition, we sign up to fail!
De verdad. Cuando se vea el Libro
de Oración Común y las promesas del bautismo, habla de cómo tratamos de
seguir, pero cuando fallamos, regresamos a Dios. No habla de SI fallamos, pero
cuando. Porque, como dijo Don Tony la semana pasada, Jesús nos conoce bien. Sabe que somos imperfectos.
Really. When you look at the Book of Common Prayer, in
the promises we make at baptism, we say that we will follow, but when we mess
up, we will repent and return to the Lord. It doesn’t mean IF we mess up, as if
we are those kinds of defective Christians. No, it means WHEN we mess up,
because as human beings, we are bound to. At some point, we all fall. We all
mess up. And God picks us up again. As Don Tony mentioned last week in our
collaborative sermon, Jesus asks us these questions because he knows we are
imperfect.
Our job is to follow, fail, and return to Jesus to try again.
Nuestro trabajo es sencillo.
Es seguir a Jesús. Fallar y regresar para intentar de nuevo.
So, take heart as you hear the disciples ask for more faith,
and Jesus responds that just a little faith- so tiny it is the size of the smallest
seed! It will allow you to move trees. Sound impossible? It is. But with God,
all things are possible. Not for us, not for our strength. But
for God.
Así que, anímense cuando
escuchen que los discípulos piden más fe. Y cuando Jesús dice que solo una semilla
de mostaza de fe va a mover los árboles, no tengan miedo. ¿Suena imposible?
Pues lo es. Pero para Dios, no hay nada imposible.
Another reminder I heard lately is that, when we are doing
this business of following, we must remember that faith is not a noun. As Debie
Thomas asks: “What if, instead, faith is engagement, orientation, action?
What if faith is a daily, hourly movement into the God-saturated, God-centered
vocations we were created to fulfill? What if faith is something we do?
Not something we have?”[2]
Otra cosa para recordar que escuché
recientemente es que, al seguir a Jesús, debemos recordar que la fe es una
acción. Como Debie Thomas habla de fe como una orientación — un movimiento
diario hacia las vocaciones centradas en Dios a las que Dios nos llama. ¿Qué
tal si la fe es algo que hacemos, no algo que tenemos?
That would make it a lot easier not to take note of the
evildoers, because we could say, I am struggling with that today, God, but I
will keep trying. And with your help, I will get there.
Con la ayuda de Dios, podemos no tener miedo de los que nos quieren causar daño,
pero continuemos confiando y siguiendo a Jesús cuando sea difícil.
Inspired by Francis, let us follow Jesus. Not perfectly, but
wildly. Imagining that crazy things are possible. That this world can change,
and hearts can be changed. With open hearts, even as we accept and expect
forgiveness when we fail.
Inspirados por San Francisco de Asís, que seguimos a Jesús. No de manera
perfecta. Pero con corazones abiertos, imaginando que las cosas locas de Dios
son una posibilidad. Que un mundo mejor es una posibilidad. Aceptamos perdón
cuando fallamos, pero siempre regresamos al camino.
Amen.
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