Caracas (Venezuela), SR. NÍCIDA AMPARO DÍAZ LEAL, December 12, 2021.- What should we do?
Lk 3, 10-18
10 "People asked him:" Well, what must we do, then? " 11 He answered them: "Anyone who has two tunics must share them with the one who has none; and anyone who has something to eat, do the same." 12 Publicans also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13 He said to them, "Demand no more than what is set for you." 14 Soldiers also asked him, "What should we do?" He told them: "Do not extort anyone, do not make false accusations, and be content with your pay." 15 As the people were waiting, they were all thinking in their hearts about John, if he would not be the Christ; 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is stronger than I is coming, and I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 In his hand he has the pitchfork to cleanse his threshing floor and gather the wheat in his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out. » 18 And, with many other exhortations, he announced the Good News to the people. "
STUDY OF THE TEXT
What do we have to do brothers and Sisters? To convert to the other.
One of the fundamental teachings of the first Christian catechesis is the demand for conversion. This fact is logical if one takes into account that this was the first exhortation of Jesus when announcing the fulfillment of the time of salvation and the nearness of the Kingdom of God (Mk 1,14-15). Conversion in the New Testament certainly assumes features that we find in the Old. Its starting point is the prophetic demand for a change of life as an interior and complete transformation of each person.
In this text from Luke, conversion is the fundamental framework in the message of John the Baptist. His appeal to the change of life is in continuity with the prophets, although John puts nuances that distinguish him, however, he maintains the grave and moving tone. The appeal is different in that it is a universal call: it affects sinners (Lk 3, 12-13); pagans (Lk 3, 14); Jews (Mt 3,8-9; Lk 3,9). It is an urgent exhortation, since the arrival of the Kingdom is near, and the judgment is imminent. There is no time to lose, it is the last chance to convert to God. The pitchfork is now ready to collect the wheat and burn the chaff in the fire that never ends ...
For John, belonging to the people of Israel is not a guarantee of the salvation that God offers, that is why it is important to enter the path of conversion (Mt 3,8 ff.; Lc 3,7 ff.) and to go out to meet the One that is coming; the conversion is now, there is no time to lose, it is the last chance to convert to God. John proposes conversion as a condition for reconciliation with God, and as a way back to the covenant. In this sense, conversion is a condition for salvation. To convert means, to go back, to return to the covenant, to achieve God's forgiveness after infidelity and sin. The motivation for change is to recover God's predilection.
(v.10-14) … What should we do?
John's preaching impacts people in such a way that they begin to ask him what should we do?
John does not miss an opportunity to propose conversion as a total and radical change of life. An opportunity to return to God in fidelity to his Covenant. Ultimately, Juan helps each person in the situation of rupture with God to restructure the relationship with his or her brothers and sisters; To each one according to his condition, he points out attitudes that become imperatives for all: solidarity with the most needy people, sharing with the poorest, not being infected by the prevailing corruption, not extorting or blackmailing anyone, not taking advantage of violence of the positions of power that may be held in the different areas of social and religious life. Once his relationship with others is restructured, the person will be able to live in God who is already salvation.
(v. 15-18) People waited for the One who had been announced by the prophets, therefore, they wondered, if John was the Christ. Juan responds that it is not him and takes the opportunity to announce the One who is The Good News; the best attitude will be the receptivity to be able to believe Him and believe in Him. This requires conversion without losing the time, because it is a Kairos, an opportune and a decisive moment for the establishment of a New and definitive Alliance between God and each person who listen and embrace His message. That is why it is an emergency. There is no time to lose!
MEDITATION
What should we do sisters?
In the framework of the 325 years of existence of the Congregation, and of the 800 years of the birth to heaven of Saint Dominic, it will be Good News for all, if we ask ourselves the question: What should we do to be worthy daughters of Marie Poussepin who know and announce Jesus Christ.?
The first thing: To take the step from Dourdan to Sainville as a process of conversion that is already the concern of Saint Dominic in his preaching and that Marie Poussepin welcomes as a dynamic for her interior life that will lead her along the paths that God is inspiring in her until getting to see what is right and good in his eyes. Evidence of her conversion is the decision to be faithful to God's Will by abiding to his Project. She becomes supportive and shares her life with the poorest of her time, practices social justice with the students in the hosiery factory, builds a community to live fraternity and Charity regulated by that of Jesus who at the same time becomes an alternative of hope to a world marked by war, ignorance, disease and misery, a fractured and wounded world.
What should we do sisters? To arrange our availability to bear witness in fraternal community to the love of God and to give an account of the hope that dwells in us of a more fraternal and more human world.
Looking at the reality we live in, we are called to convert to fraternal Charity as the only way of reconstruction, forgiveness and reconciliation in a world wounded by the pandemic and by the different attitudes that have come to the surface, making pain and suffering deeper. Living Justice, Peace and the Care of Creation as a Lifestyle and Testimony to our Commitment to the Common Home
Our commitment to the Good News of the Kingdom of God will be sustained by the testimony and coherence of a life that is marked by simplicity, work and poverty, this experience will make our consecration credible and will be a reason for astonishment and a call for those who have not yet decide to follow Jesus Christ radically.
PRAYER
Entirely good and merciful Father, we ask you in this hour of Grace to give us the gift of conversion to the love of our sisters / brothers, as the only way of meeting with you. Make us docile to the impulse of your Spirit to take risks, overcoming fear and opting for the reconstruction of our life, our community and our Congregation and thus go giving our lives in listening, walking together, and preserving your presence in our lives.
Give us the power to understand that if we do not convert to our sisters / we will not convert to You either and we lose the opportunity that you give us to return to You, Lord and giver of full life.
CONTEMPLATION
Like the disciples of John, we give ourselves the opportunity to unlearn all those attitudes and situations that condition and fracture our relationship with the sisters and brothers who share our life and mission and therefore fracture our relationship with God.
Unlearn to learn a new way of being and being with God, with our sisters, with ourselves and with all creation.