In Luke 7, 31-35, Jesus says, “To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’”
The Lord declares that the people of His generation (and isn’t this true of every generation?) were like children who refused to dance when other children in the playground played the pipes. They were also like children who refused to cry when other children in the playground sang songs of lament or dirges. Jesus identifies Himself with those who played the pipes and St. John the Baptist with those who sang dirges.
It may seem odd to think of Him as a piper who plays a tune that invites people to dance to it, but in a sense, that is what we do, if we live as His conscientious and active disciples. We are called to be the ones who readily dance to Jesus’ tune!
However, the idea of dancing to someone else’s tune usually has negative overtones. Nonetheless, as followers of Jesus we should attune our ears to His rhythms, to the music of His life, and then try and move in time with His melody. We need to let the music that Jesus plays by His life, death, and Resurrection, shape our lives. Attentive listening, after all, is important in our relationship with the Lord, because it is only then that we can move to the divine music.
For reflection: Jesus’s Mother and all the Saints of the Church listened attentively to the Lord’s Word and they were in tune with the music of Jesus. She, among all the Saints, is our model and our inspiration as we try to live in harmony with that life-giving tune.
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On the Church’s calendar today we celebrate the feastday of the Korean Martyrs: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-andrew-kim-taegon-paul-chong-hasang-and-companions/
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La Iglesia es la comunidad del Dios Viviente, que hace visible a Cristo en el mundo. En un tiempo en que los cristianos no tenían templos o iglesias, el Nuevo Testamento de la Biblia habla de “la Iglesia viva,” el cuerpo de los fieles, que deben dar testimonio de la verdad.
Hoy celebramos la fiesta de San Andrés Kim Taegon y sus compañeros (mártires coreanos del siglo XIX). Ellos no fueron como aquellos hombres a los que se refiere Jesús en Lucas 7, 31-35: “¿A quién se parecen los hombres de esta generación? ¿A quién los compararemos? Se parecen a unos niños, sentados en la plaza, que gritan a otros: ‘Tocarnos la flauta y no bailan, cantamos lamentaciones y no lloran.’” Las personas de su generación fueron gente indiferente, gente que asistieron a la vida como a un espectáculo, sin dejarse afectar para nada por lo que pasa a sus alrededor, preocupados únicamente con sus intereses.
La pregunta sería dónde nos situamos nosotros. Porque a veces da la impresión de que nos alineamos con ese grupo de la gente indiferente. Vamos a Misa, decimos que somos católicos y seguidores de Jesús. Pero en realidad muchas veces vamos a lo nuestro, y el mensaje de Jesús casi no nos toca ni la piel. Los mártires que hoy celebramos si dejaron que ese mensaje les tocase la piel … y más adentro.
Para leer más: https://www.aciprensa.com/santo/388/san-andres-kim-y-companeros-martires
