“I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37: 14
Read original version in Spanish
By Fr. Franz Berajano, SJ
As we approach the celebration of Easter and the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we are looking for some light that will help us to join Jesus’ plans for our personal and communal life.
The context in which the first reading takes place invites us to fix our gaze on the Church and its role in society. We are part of an institution that has many years of history and presence worldwide, and, like any institution of this magnitude, it needs constant renewal so as not to remain stagnant and stuck in the past.
The reference to “dry bones,” as stated in Ezekiel’s prophecy, is a clear affirmation that an infusion of life is needed; it needs a spirit that awakens and generates new life.
When in Ezekiel 37:14 we read “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will set you in your land; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD,” it is a clear reference to the awakening to a new life that the Resurrection of Jesus brings us.
At the same time, it invites us to look to the future with optimism and hope which is reflected in different ways in the Church. To renew ourselves in the Spirit of Jesus is to seek a concrete way of living our faith in our own Church’s context. It means to be rooted in its reality and sharing the message of renewal to our brothers and sisters.
The reality of each local faith community is an opportunity for the Spirit of God to manifest itself in freedom. God acts in our personal and communal history and the manifestations of God’s action are reflected in the life of faith of the Christian community. Understanding this history helps us to understand that when we pray for the Church, we pray for each situation but that it also contributes to the whole body.
As a community of faith, God invites us to fix our gaze on those situations that need to be renewed in the Spirit of the Risen One. These urgent situations are personal but are reflected in community life. In this sense, for many Indigenous communities, the care of the common home occupies an important place because the future of the community and its members depends on it. If Mother Earth suffers, our life dies like “dead bones.” Taking care of our common home is not only the task of the “guardians of nature,” but of all of us who inhabit this world.
LISTEN
Tu Modo (Your Way)
God of the Hungry
REFLECT
How may I best serve God in the world today?
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
PRAY
Let us remember in our prayers the Jesuit Migration Network–Central America and Mexico, a CJI partner which provides humanitarian relief and accompaniment to thousands of migrants. Conflict, violence, human rights violations, persecutions, and socio-economic and political crises are forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their own “soil”. In recent years, Central American migrants have been joined by more than 130,000 others who crossed from South America through the Darien Gap in Panama: people from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and parts of Asia and Africa, including children and adolescents. The network offers them food, medication, shelter and refuge, psychological and spiritual support, and legal advice.
