BEATIFICATION OF EIGHT SPANISH RECOLLECT MARTYRS
HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II
Third Sunday of Lent, 7 March 1999"Whoever drinks of this water that I shall give him will never thirst" (John 4:14).
Today, on the Third Sunday of Lent, Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well is an extraordinary catechesis on faith. To catechumens preparing to receive Baptism and to all believers on their way to Easter, today the Gospel shows us the "living water" of the Holy Spirit, who regenerates man from within, causing him to be reborn to new life "from on high".
Human life is an "exodus" from slavery to the promised land, from death to life. In this journey we sometimes experience the aridity and fatigue of life: poverty, loneliness, the loss of meaning and hope, to the point that we can even wonder, as the Jews did on their journey: "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Ex 17:7).
That Samaritan woman, so tried by life, must have frequently thought: "Where is the Lord?". Until one day she meets a man who reveals the whole truth to her, a woman and even more a Samaritan, in other words, doubly despised. In a simple conversation he offers her the gift of God: the Holy Spirit, a spring of living water welling up to eternal life. He reveals himself to her as the awaited Messiah and tells her of the Father who wants to be worshiped in spirit and truth.
The saints are "true worshipers of the Father": men and women who, like the Samaritan woman, have met Christ and through him discovered the meaning of life. They have experienced firsthand what the Apostle Paul says in the second reading: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5:5).
The grace of Baptism also came to fruition in the new blesseds. They drank from the fountain of Christ's love to the point that they were deeply transformed and in turn became overflowing springs to quench the thirst of the many brothers and sisters they met on life's path.
"Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God ... and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God" (Rom 5:1-2). Today, in beatifying the martyrs of Motril, the Church puts these words of St Paul on her lips. In fact, Vicente Soler, his six Augustinian Recollect companions and the diocesan priest, Manuel MartÃn, obtained access to "the glory of the sons of God" by the heroic witness of their faith. They did not die for an ideology but freely gave their lives for the One who had first died for them. They offered Christ the gift they had received from him.
By faith these simple men of peace, who had nothing to do with the political debate, worked for years in mission territories, suffered a multitude of hardships in the Philippines, soaked the fields of Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela with their sweat, and started social and educational programs in Motril and other parts of Spain. When the supreme moment of martyrdom came, by faith they could face death serenely, comforting the other condemned men and forgiving their executioners. "How can this be?", we ask ourselves, and St Augustine answers: "Because he who reigns in heaven governs the mind and tongue of his martyrs, and through them he has triumphed on earth" (Sermon 329, 1-2).
Blessed are you, martyrs of Christ! May everyone rejoice over the honor paid to these witnesses of the faith. God helped them in their tribulations and gave them the crown of victory. May they help those who are working today for reconciliation and peace in Spain and in the world!
Dear brothers and sisters, let us thank God for the gift of these new blesseds! Despite the trials of life, they did not harden their hearts, but listened to the voice of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit filled them with the love of God. Thus they could experience that "hope does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5). They were like trees planted by streams of water, which yielded abundant fruit in due season (cf. Ps 1:3).
For this reason, the whole Church today marvels at their witness and acclaims: Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world; you are the rock from which flows living water for humanity's thirst!
Lord, give us this water always, so that we may know the Father and adore him in Spirit and Truth. Amen!
READING: Romans 8:18,35,37-39I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.RESPONSORYRejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. --for your reward will be great in heaven.
But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you.
--for your reward will be great in heaven.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
--Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
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