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In the Battlefield of Our Souls: The Three Temptations

(Homily for March 9 th , 2025, First Sunday of Lent) Lent is recognized as a certain “warfare.” The opening prayer in Ash Wednesday says: “Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils , we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.” During the Lenten Season, God prepares us for celebrating the great mysteries of the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. This celebration requires us to be purified. The instruments of purification are prayer, penance and almsgiving. The devil knows this, so he will tempt us against penance, prayer and almsgiving. Thus, God and the devil are at war in the battlefield of our souls. As Jesus Himself was tempted, we also will be tempted. 1.   When we speak about the salvation of the soul, we refer to this war and to the possibility of being defeated forever. Salvation, in this sense, means salvation from hell, and from those actions of the devil that may tak...
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The Subway Church

  How sad it would be to go alone in life, when we are meant to be a joyful crowd going up together towards the House of the Lord! We may be every day surrounded by people; but this happens also in a bus, or in the metro. You are still alone. Everybody around you might even be pressing on you, but this does not make you feel accompanied, or safe. Nobody truly “touches” you (cf. Mark 5:30-31). In the subway we hide ourselves, we protect ourselves. If we have money, we try to keep it close to our body, even inside our jacket, close to our heart. Our face is a “nothing-face,” one that both puts distance and says that everything is OK… even when, deep inside, we may be full of sadness, anxieties, or maybe joys, dreams. But people in the subway are not the ones with whom we can share those things. If you do not protect yourself in a subway, you remain exposed. Exposed perhaps to questions: “What's wrong with you, bro?” Exposed to be robbed of what you love the most… There is some co...
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Good Speech Comes from a Humble Heart

 (Sunday Homily for March 1st) 1.   “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks” ( Sirach 27:4) “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” ( Luke 6:45). Good speech comes from a good heart. What is a good heart? “In tribulation is the test of the just” ( Sirach 27:5). A good heart is a crushed heart, a contrite heart, a heart experienced in suffering, humiliations and failure. A good heart is a humble heart, a heart that is aware of its own sinfulness, its own weakness and its own limitations. A good speech comes from a heart like that: a person who is aware of his or her own limitations is able to speak in the right way. Lack of this awareness is pride, which could rightfully be compared to a wooden beam: pride is a big sin. Once pride is taken away, the faults of our brothers and sisters seem light...
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Life After Fire

  Sometimes an illness, an accident, age or other circumstances prevent us from doing what we used to do. This may challenge the way we think of ourselves, the way we perceive our worth. The following reflections, as I ponder my life after my recent accident, may help some of you going through similar situations. 1. God loves me no matter what I can do. He preferred me to exist rather than not, but He didn’t need me able to sing or play the guitar. He thought that it was good enough for Him that I simply am. In order to be happy with me, the Lord did not need me to do anything else. I cannot give much to people and I am not able to make them very happy sometimes, but God is glorified perfectly by my simple existence. If I were not part of His splendor, if I were not part of what makes the world and His Church beautiful, I would not be here. He loves me. 2. What does He give me, then, in His love? Well, in the first place, being. Also, hopefully, grace, if I am in a state of gra...
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Judging Others As a Way to Avoid Problems

   Stop judging and you will not be judged.  Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.  Forgive and you will be forgiven.  Give, and gifts will be given to you” ( Luke 6:37-38) Let me reflect on one of the reasons we judge. This may help us to see why the Lord does not want us to judge and in what sense. 1.   “Stop judging and you will not be judged.” When there is something that we do not like in people, we have a hard time dealing with those people. Interacting with them becomes a problem for us: they make us waste time, energy, or even money. Other times we just lack the patience to be with them. If they have hurt us, dealing with them still hurts. We feel the need to avoid them but, at the same time, we need to justify our avoidance. Thus, we judge them, we label them. In this way, we convince ourselves that it is their problem, not our problem. It works like a defense mechanism: it would be too difficult to acknowledge that we should treat t...
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On Suffering and Compassion

  When we see a doctor, we are not looking for a judgment, but for a remedy. The diagnosis is important, but it is not enough. We want to be healed, not to be wiser, even if being wiser is more important. When someone tells you that they are suffering, try to console them. Be compassionate. Be careful… Before telling them something wise, or true, ask yourself whether they really do not know it, or whether they suffer because of lack of knowledge. Ask yourself why they are suffering, or what would help them to heal. And if you do not know, ask the suffering person. A good doctor asks good questions before making a good diagnosis. Moreover, asking questions allows sometimes those who suffer to see better why they suffer and what would then help them. Telling someone to carry their cross, without helping them or without suffering with them (“compassion” means “suffering with”), is not doing what Jesus did. Sometimes we do that in order to get rid of the person who is suffering. We...
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Wedding and Wine: The Divine Covenant

  Jesus attends a wedding, Jesus provides wine for the celebration. God is not against the good things of life. Jesus approves, blesses and supports good things, things providing comfort and pleasure. Chastity is not against marriage, but for marriage. Temperance is not against having fun. But, in today’s Gospel, it is clear that the good things of life are truly good when they are somehow connected with God. This wedding and this wine are signs of Jesus’ mission. They are used by Jesus as signs because they are good things. Wedding and wine are good things because, 1) they are images of something divine, 2) they come from God and 3) they can lead us to God, if we use them properly. 1)   Many places in the Old Testament use the image of marriage in order to explain God’s love for human beings. But the consummated union between God and humanity, a union that could not be broken, had not yet happened. When the Word became flesh, God united to himself a human nature forever, i...
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