When the Roman Empire turned
a favorable eye toward the oncepersecuted Christians, among the
effects was a population explosion in
the baptismal font, as Christian
sympathizers stepped from the
shadows.
With more and more people
becoming Christians, laws were
passed to protect Sunday as a
work-free day. Soon, it became
possible to celebrate Mass later in the
morning, rather than the older custom
of gathering before dawn to celebrate Eucharist. Amazingly, despite the
increasing numbers of Christians,
there was great resistance to adding to
the number of worship events; the
Eucharist that began as a few friends
around a table soon was transformed
into a more formal event with throngs
crowding a large hall. All the Christians
in a city or town would gather around
the bishop for the one Sunday
Eucharist, and only when the crowds
became unmanageable was there an
impulse to divide the assembly by
splitting off a new bishop and flock.
Now, sixteen hundred years later,
many parishes see a need to trim or
combine Mass schedules. This is
often seen as tough surgery. Yet our
forebears in the faith would see it as a
gain: a filling up of the Eucharist with a
large and vigorous assembly, a
fullness of ministry, an opportunity
to make the Church more fully visible
and stronger for service.
Tradiciones De Nuestra Fe
La última mitad del siglo
pasado, nuestro continente vio el
derrame de muchísima sangre
cristiana. No podemos olvidar la
sangre de quienes dieron la vida
por el Evangelio de la justicia:
Michel Quiroga evangelizador
colombiano; Agustina Rivas monjita
peruana; Vicente Matute líder
indígena hondureño; Marlene
Kegler una Universitaria de 23 años
argentina.
Estos son algunos
ejemplos de tantos que murieron
creyendo que la doctrina cristiana
no se puede contener en templos y
conventos. Dieron la vida por
querer vivir su fe en situaciones de
discriminación e injusticia.
Derramando su sangre se
convirtieron en ángeles de justicia
que gritan a Dios uniendo sus
voces a la de Abel.
Todos estos mártires
latinoamericanos murieron a manos
de latinoamericanos. Dieron sus
vidas, según la mártir chilena Joan
Alsina, como granos de trigo. Y
desde el cielo ella nos pide:
“Esperamos tu solidaridad.
¿Entiendes ahora lo que significa
el Cuerpo de Cristo? Si nosotros
nos hundimos es algo de tu
esperanza la que se hunde.
Pero si de las cenizas asumimos
la vida de nuevo, es algo que nace
de nuevo en ustedes.”
Compartir
