Los tres d�as m�s significativos del a�o

Thursday, April 1, 2010

*Bishop Felipe Estevez

English Spanish

Uno de los títulos que más me atraen sobre la persona de Jesús es “salvator mundi”, salvador del mundo. A veces creo que los cristianos asumen que Cristo murió y resucitó sólo para nosotros los creyentes. El que lea el primer capítulo de las cartas de San Pablo a los Efesios y Colosenses se dará cuenta que para los primeros pensadores cristianos la muerte y la resurrección de Cristo tenía un impacto cósmico y afectaba a la salud de toda la humanidad. Por eso todo ser humano puede decir: Cristo me amó y se entregó por mí en la cruz.

El Triduo Pascual es incomparable a cualquier otra fecha, ya que el Jueves, Viernes y Sábado Santo contienen el todo de la salvación. Ninguna otra fecha en el calendario le supera en riqueza de donación, quizás con la única excepción de la Navidad: El Verbo se hizo carne e hizo su tienda entre nosotros, nos diría San Juan en su prólogo sintético de todo su Evangelio.

El Jueves Santo trata de la última cena de Jesús con sus discípulos a los que “amó hasta el extremo”; pues no sólo les lavó los pies revelándoles hasta que profundidades baja el Señor de la Gloria, sino que transforma el pan y la copa en un memorial permanente de su pasión. ¡Con qué emoción y solemnidad le escribe Pablo a los Corintios al explicarles que esta cena sacrificial es el legado más sagrado de la tradición apostólica para todas las comunidades cristianas!

Existe entre nosotros hoy un renovado interés por la adoración al Santísimo Sacramento. Este desarrollo es lógico pues delante de tal don de Cristo, ¿cómo pudiera el discípulo no añorar su presencia? Todo el que ama experimenta una inmensa dulzura en la mirada hacia el amado. San Agustín lo dijo magistralmente comentando al salmo 98:9: “nadie come esa carne sin antes adorarla; deberíamos pecar si no la adoráramos”. Afirmación que su Santidad Benedicto XVI no se cansa de repetir en sus enseñanzas.

Cada Viernes Santo se escucha la Pasión según San Juan. Se ora como un hermano universal incluyendo con todo respeto a los judíos, a los que no creen en Cristo o en Dios, etc. Acto seguido todo el mundo se une en una procesión para besar la cruz. El lenguaje de la liturgia es preciso; no se venera la cruz sino se adora la santa cruz, “pues del árbol de la cruz ha venido la alegría al mundo entero”, canta el coro en la antífona que precede los improperios.

Los que persiguen hoy al Santo Padre Benedicto XVI, a los cristianos en los totalitarismos fundamentalistas o donde se restringe el derecho fundamental de la libertad religiosa, creen que van a intimidar a los creyentes. Se equivocan, pues la cruz es lo que más les anima y fortalece, como lo dice tan bien el canto de la adoración de la Santa Cruz: “cruz amable y redentora, árbol noble, espléndido, ningún árbol fue tan rico, ni en sus frutos ni en su flor”.

Después del Viernes Santo se entra en un silencio indescriptible hasta la noche del sábado cuando se celebra la Vigilia Pascual: “la madre de todas las vigilias”. Este silencio del Sábado Santo no se comprende bien entre nosotros, aunque los familiares de un ser querido que acaban de darle sepultura, son los que más pudieran ayudarnos a entender este sentimiento de vacío lleno de recuerdos. Ya que si vamos a la iglesia, encontraríamos el altar sin flores y manteles, pues no hay misas. Creo que es María con la que debemos orientar nuestra oración. Ella conservaba todas estas cosas en su corazón contemplativo y silente. Ella es el mejor vehículo para vivir la espera del “gran domingo”.

La Vigilia Pascual es desconocida por la mayoría de los católicos que llenan las iglesias el día siguiente. Sin embargo, la liturgia de la Vigilia es la expresión más rica de la alegría eclesial por la resurrección del Señor Jesús; es la noche luminosa. El majestuoso cirio pascual que entra en una asamblea oscura pero llena de pequeños cirios, canta a Cristo luz del mundo y el pueblo da gracias por esta buena nueva. La muerte ha sido destruida, nace la esperanza más profunda de todo ser humano; Cristo vive para siempre. Y le sigue el himno más bello de toda la liturgia, el pregón pascual, el famoso Exsultet: ¡Alégrense!

Desde este momento la Iglesia entra en una fiesta de cincuenta días, el miserere de la Cuaresma se transforma en el aleluya pascual. ¡Esa es la victoria de la fe! La cruz es fecunda y gloriosa: Cristo, nuestro cordero pascual, ha sido inmolado. ¡Celebremos la Pascua! ¡Aleluya! ¡Aleluya!

Comments from readers

Cabrini Pak - 04/03/2010 07:30 PM

Hi Bishop Estevez! Thank you for sharing this. The part that hit home for me:

"The silence of Holy Saturday is not well understood among us, even though the relatives of a loved one who has been buried are the ones who could help us most to understand that feeling of emptiness full of memories. If we went to the church, we would find the altar without flowers or cloth; there is no Mass. I think that we should direct our prayer to Mary."

After having just learned that a beloved teacher and mentor passed away yesterday (Good Friday) that silence that settled in my heart on Good Friday is faintly echoed in the loss of my dear friend.

I await Easter with hope and love. Peace.

Antonio Fernandez - 04/02/2010 10:49 AM

After reading Bishop Felipe Est�vez, beautiful and inspiring article about the Paschal Triduum, there is not much to say, except to guard those words in our hearts and pray on them.
I hesitate to add anything else, because whatever I say could distract us from the profound meaning of the Bishop's message. However, I would like to share some additional gifts that we should celebrate during these three days.
First on Holy Thursday, as well as celebrating the gift of the Eucharist, we should give thanks as well for the Priesthood, that the Lord established, also during the Last Supper, making it possible to renew his sacrificial supper throughout the world and the ages until the end of the times.
On Good Friday, I like to remember the words of the Vatican II Council regarding the "birth" of the Church: "For it was from the side of Christ as He slept of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous Sacrament of the whole Church'" (SC 5).
I would like to encourage everyone to attend and participate in the Paschal Vigil; there is no other liturgical celebration in our Church richer and with more meaning than this night. The lighted Paschal candle entering in a dark assembly, the little candles fed from the Paschal candle remind us that as we share our faith in Christ it is not diminished by sharing it but on the contrary it grows even more to the point that where there was darkness now there is light and hope for an even brighter future. This is a good night to give thanks for our own Baptism, which allowed us to pass from being slaves of sin, to be now free as God's children.
I don't want to close these thoughts, without making reference to the fact that on Easter Sunday, we Floridians should remember that the name of our State, singularly celebrates our greatest Christian Mystery: In the year 1513 in the month of April on Easter Sunday, Ponce de Leon on sighting the coast of our peninsula, he called it "Pasqua Florida". For many years that name was not exclusively used to identify the present Florida, but the entire American continental territory extending north to Newfoundland and westward indefinitely from the Atlantic. Let us congratulate ourselves and give thanks for our nameday and Christian heritage.

Cabrini Pak - 04/03/2010 07:30 PM: Hi Bishop Estevez! Thank you for sharing this. The part that hit home for me:

"The silence of Holy Saturday is not well understood among us, even though the relatives of a loved one who has been buried are the ones who could help us most to understand that feeling of emptiness full of memories. If we went to the church, we would find the altar without flowers or cloth; there is no Mass. I think that we should direct our prayer to Mary."

After having just learned that a beloved teacher and mentor passed away yesterday (Good Friday) that silence that settled in my heart on Good Friday is faintly echoed in the loss of my dear friend.

I await Easter with hope and love. Peace.

Antonio Fernandez - 04/02/2010 10:49 AM: After reading Bishop Felipe Est�vez, beautiful and inspiring article about the Paschal Triduum, there is not much to say, except to guard those words in our hearts and pray on them.
I hesitate to add anything else, because whatever I say could distract us from the profound meaning of the Bishop's message. However, I would like to share some additional gifts that we should celebrate during these three days.
First on Holy Thursday, as well as celebrating the gift of the Eucharist, we should give thanks as well for the Priesthood, that the Lord established, also during the Last Supper, making it possible to renew his sacrificial supper throughout the world and the ages until the end of the times.
On Good Friday, I like to remember the words of the Vatican II Council regarding the "birth" of the Church: "For it was from the side of Christ as He slept of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous Sacrament of the whole Church'" (SC 5).
I would like to encourage everyone to attend and participate in the Paschal Vigil; there is no other liturgical celebration in our Church richer and with more meaning than this night. The lighted Paschal candle entering in a dark assembly, the little candles fed from the Paschal candle remind us that as we share our faith in Christ it is not diminished by sharing it but on the contrary it grows even more to the point that where there was darkness now there is light and hope for an even brighter future. This is a good night to give thanks for our own Baptism, which allowed us to pass from being slaves of sin, to be now free as God's children.
I don't want to close these thoughts, without making reference to the fact that on Easter Sunday, we Floridians should remember that the name of our State, singularly celebrates our greatest Christian Mystery: In the year 1513 in the month of April on Easter Sunday, Ponce de Leon on sighting the coast of our peninsula, he called it "Pasqua Florida". For many years that name was not exclusively used to identify the present Florida, but the entire American continental territory extending north to Newfoundland and westward indefinitely from the Atlantic. Let us congratulate ourselves and give thanks for our nameday and Christian heritage.