"Hasta la locura te amo, Señor " Cover by @sayury

Muchos saludos a todos, deseo compartir con ustedes una canciòn que aborda una temàtica muy importante: el amor del creyente hacia Dios. Hace algunos años leìa un libro que hablaba sobre el Reino de Dios y decia que el amor era "el oxìgeno del Reino", lo que da vida. Cuando hablamos del amor de Dios al vez hablamos de su compasiòn, su misericordia, su capacidad de perdòn. El amor de Dios engloba demasiadas cosas. Ademàs, es un amor infinito.

En el versìculo 10 del Salmo 27 (26) podemos leer: " Aunque mi padre y mi madre me abandonen, el Señor me recibirá." El salmista hace aquì una interesante comparaciòn ya que coloca el amor que se consider el màs grande, abnegado y generoso, como es el r de la madre y juntmente con el amor de padre lo compara con el amor de Dios y, ciertamente, dice que existe la posibilidad de que nos fallen la madre o nos falle la madre en su amor por nosotros, pero Dios no.

Por supuesto que conocemos casos ordinarios y extraordinarios que demuestran cuan grande es el amor maternal, sin embargo, tambièn conocemos un porcentje mìnimo de malas madres, de madres que no solo no aman a sus hijos sino parecieran aborrecerlos y les maltratan de distintas formas. Igual ocurre con los padres. Sin embargo, el amor de Dios nunca nos falla, si el amor humano mñs grande que existe, de pronto nos dejara de lado, el de Dios estarà siempre allì, como fuente inagotable de vida espiritual para nosotros, como fuente inagotable de comprensiòn con nuestros errores, con perdòn por nuestros pecados.

Un amor que en la cumbre del Calvario se manifestò hasta en la frase "Padre, perdònalos, porque no saben lo que hacen" Sin mor verdadero, sin amor infinito, la frase habrìa sido "Padre, castìgalos, mira lo que me estàn haciendo" . Frase que utilizamos a veces camuflada con las palabras "Ellos me hicieron esto y esto...yo lo dejo en manos de Dios" cuando ese "dejar en manos de Dios" no es con la solicitud de "perdònales" sino màs bien de "castìgales". Serìa màs provechoso - tanto para el otro como para nosotros - ponerlos en manos de Dios con la oraciòn "Convièrtelos, Señor. Quita ese corazòn de piedra y sustitùyelo por un corazòn de carne. Transfòrmalos. Que tengan conciencia plena del daño que me han causado, se arrepientan, cambien de actitud y se acerquen a ti para que sanes sus vidas"

Eso es lo que Dios quiere y espera de nosotros:

"Este mandamiento nuevo os doy: que os améis los unos a los otros. Así como yo os he amado, también vosotros debéis amaros unos a otros". Juan 13:34

Y es que hay otra caracterìstica importantìsima del amor de Dios: es vinculante, compromete, exige compromiso. No solo nos ama, nos exige que amemos de igual forma. Es interesante qu nos diga que amemos a nuestro pròjimo como a nosotros mismos. Aquì prodrìamos hacer una especie de "juego de palabras" , ya que escribimos Mèxico y pronunciamos Mèjico, podrìamos cambiar l "j" por la "x" tambièn en la palabra "pròjimo" y nos encontrarìamos con "pròximo", Y es que màs fàcil amar al lejano que al pròximo, pero el amor que Dios nos pide debe abarcar a lejanos y cercanos. ¿Por què es màs fàcil amar al lejano? Porque los roces los tenemos con los cercanos. Mi abuelo, cuando escuchaba que alguien decìa "Fulano sì es bueno", le interrumpìa con un "¿Bueno? Jum. Llèvatelo para tu casa para que veas"

Porque cuando estamos muy cerca de alguien es cuando nos pueden molestar sus cosas y al otro las nuestras. Hasta detalle simple como "¡Otra vez dejaste destapada la crema dental!" pueden ser motivo de conflicto, de disensiòn, o...de paciencia y perdòn, frutos estos del amor.

El amor de Dios cubre nuestra vida hasta el mìnimo detalle, asì su perdòn y misericordia, todos frutos de su amor. Y amor, perdòn, misericordia, es lo que Èl espera que tengamos nosotros por los demàs.
Tuve una experiencia hace unos meses en ese sentido. No se en sus localidades, pero en el lugar donde vivo, se han dado muchos casos de abusos e injusticia por parte de funcionarios uniformados cuya misiòn es velar por el orden pùblico pero que han degenerado en realizar extorsiones y otros males. Se les podrìa denunciar en Fiscalìa, pero las vìctimas no lo hacen, por temor represalias. Cada vez que me pasaba cerca un uniformdo sentìa un fuerte resentimiento ¡Sin saber si este era de los corruptos o no!

Asì que fuì a confesar este hecho...vergonzoso... dirìa yo. El padre Frank Riobueno me aconsejò que cada vez que pasara frente a la estaciòn de policìa o viera un policìa o un grupo de ellos... de inmediato, mentalmente, comenzara a pedirle a Dios por ellos. Que le pidiera que el Espìritu Santo llenara sus vidas, les cambiara los sentimientos, los pensamientos, su voluntad, hacia el bien. Que les hiciera darse cuenta del daño causado y fueran capaces de sentir compasiòn por lod demàs.
Comencè a hacer esto y poco a poco fui cambiando mis sentimientos hacia ellos.

Realmente ¡Es dificil sentir resentimiento hacia alguien por quien estàs orando! Comenè a sentir compasiòn porque estàn equivocados ¡Y no lo saben! Estàn haciendo mal y es como si no cayeran en cuenta de ello. Un poco es aquello de "no saben lo que hacen". Son incapaces - todavìa - de ponerse en el lugar del otro... eso es terrible...es como vivir en una sequedad. Debe ser terrible ser asì... ver al otro solo como a alguien de quien podemos obtener dinero mediante amenazas, debe ser terrible no sentir compasiòn, no sentir amor, no sentir consideraciòn... realmente no saben lo que hacen.

He aprendido a orar por ellos, he aprendido a orar por los polìticos, por los criminales, por todas las personas de mal que necesitan conocer el bien y aun se encuentran lejos de èl, y lejos de Èl. Lejos del bien y lejos de Dios. Son como ...huèrfanos mentales ¡No saben que tienen un Padre que les ama, que està esperando su arrepentimiento para cambiar su vida! Son dignos de compasiòn, realmente. Tienen una vida vacìa que intentan llenar comprando objetos con dinero que arrebatan a inocentes...es patètico.
No conocen la dicha de saberse hijos de Dios, no han experimentado la felicidad de saber que Dios les ama.
El caso opuesto totalmente a la canciòn que les traigo hoy, un canto de amor de alguien que sabe que Dios le ama y expresa su gratitud por ese amor desean do a su vez amar a Dios "hasta el extremo"- Es un canto hermoso que puede ser parte de nuestra oraciòn personal.

Recuerdo còmo conocì este canto: Dirigìa por aquella època el coro "Shalom" en la iglesia Nuestra Señoa de Las Mercedes en Villa de Cura, estado Aragua, Venezuela. Los Ministros Extraordinarios de la Eucaristía viajaron a la ciudad de Maracay - capital del estado - a realizar un retiro espiritual. su regreso me dijo una de la Ministros que habìan entonado un canto "demasiado bello", que no sabìa el tìtulo pero habia copiado parte de la letra. Me la dio y yo se la entreguè a Eduar Martinez (Hive account@eduarmarinez), ùnico varòn del coro, quien para ese entonces vivìa en Villa de Cura - posteriormente a su graduaciòn de licenciado en Comunicaciòn Social estuvo colocando su curriculum vitae en diversas pàginas en la web y lo llamaron de un canal de televisiòn de la capital. Allà se encuentre ahora, trbaja redactando el texto que leeràn en el noticiero. Bien, Eduard consiguiò la letra y el video por Youtube, lo ensayamos y lo estrenamos como canto para la Comuniòn.
Esta es su letra

        DO              RE 

        DO              RE 

Greetings to everyone! We're entering week 63 of Praise and Worship Music with a very important theme: God's love. A few years ago, I read a book about the Kingdom of God, and it said that love was "the oxygen of the Kingdom," that which gives life. When we talk about God's love, we're perhaps talking about His compassion, His mercy, His capacity for forgiveness. God's love encompasses so many things. Furthermore, it is an infinite love. In verse 10 of Psalm 27 (26) we can read: ["Though my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me."](https://www.es.catholic.net/op/vercapitulo/3568/salmo-27-26.html) The psalmist makes an interesting comparison here since he places the love that was considered the greatest, selfless and generous, such as that of the mother and together with the love of a father he compares it with the love of God and, certainly, he says that there is the possibility that our mother may fail us or our mother may fail us in her love for us, but God does not.

Of course, we know ordinary and extraordinary cases that demonstrate how great maternal love is. However, we also know a small percentage of bad mothers, mothers who not only don't love their children but seem to hate them and mistreat them in various ways. The same is true of fathers. However, God's love never fails us. If the greatest human love that exists were to suddenly abandon us, God's love will always be there, an inexhaustible source of spiritual life for us, an inexhaustible source of understanding for our mistakes, of forgiveness for our sins. A love that, even at the summit of Calvary, was manifested in the phrase, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Without true love, without infinite love, the phrase would have been, "Father, punish them, look what they are doing to me." A phrase we sometimes use disguised as "They did this to me and this... I leave it in God's hands," when that "leaving it in God's hands" isn't with the request to "forgive them" but rather to "punish them."

It would be more beneficial—both for the other person and for ourselves—to place them in God's hands with the prayer, "Convert them, Lord. Remove that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. Transform them. May they fully realize the harm they have caused me, repent, change their attitude, and come to you so that you may heal their lives."

That is what God wants and expects of us:
"This new commandment I give to you: that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another." John 13:34

And there is another very important characteristic of God's love: it is binding, it commits, it demands commitment. He not only loves us, he demands that we love in the same way. It is interesting that He tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Here we could make a kind of "word game", since we write Mexico and pronounce Mexico, we could change the "j" for the "x" also in the word "neighbor" and we would find "proximity." And it is easier to love those who are far away than those who are close, but the love that God asks of us must include those who are far away and those who are close. Why is it easier to love those who are far away? Because we have friction with those who are close. My grandfather, when he heard someone say "So-and-so is good," would interrupt with a "Well? Hum. Take him home so you can see."

Because when we're very close to someone, that's when their things can bother us, and ours can bother the other person. Even a simple detail like "You left the toothpaste cap off again!" can be a cause of conflict, dissension, or... patience and forgiveness, fruits of love.

God's love covers our lives down to the smallest detail, so does his forgiveness and mercy, all fruits of his love. And love, forgiveness, mercy, is what he expects us to have for others.
I had an experience a few months ago in this regard. I don't know about your locality, but where I live, there have been many cases of abuse and injustice at the hands of uniformed officers whose mission is to ensure public order, but which have degenerated into extortion and other evils. They could be reported to the Prosecutor's Office, but the victims don't, for fear of reprisals. Every time I passed by a uniformed officer, I felt a strong resentment. I didn't know if they were corrupt or not!
So I went to confess this shameful act... I'd say. Father Frank Riobueno advised me that every time I passed by the police station or saw a police officer or a group of them... I should immediately, mentally, begin to pray to God for them. To ask that the Holy Spirit fill their lives, change their feelings, their thoughts, their will, for the good. To make them realize the harm they had caused and be capable of feeling compassion for others.

I began to do this, and little by little, my feelings toward them began to change.
It's really hard to feel resentment toward someone you're praying for! I began to feel compassion because they're wrong, and they don't know it! They're doing wrong, and it's as if they don't realize it. It's a bit like "they don't know what they're doing." They're incapable—yet—of putting themselves in the other person's shoes... that's terrible... it's like living in a state of aridity. It must be terrible to be like that... to see the other person only as someone from whom we can extort money by threatening them. It must be terrible not to feel compassion, not to feel love, not to feel consideration... they really don't know what they're doing.

I've learned to pray for them. I've learned to pray for politicians, for criminals, for all the evil people who need to know the good and yet find themselves far from it, far from it. Far from good and far from God. They're like... mental orphans. They don't know they have a Father who loves them, who is waiting for their repentance to change their lives! They are truly worthy of compassion. They have empty lives that they try to fill by buying things with money they take from innocent people... it's pathetic.
They don't know the joy of knowing they are children of God; they haven't experienced the happiness of knowing that God loves them.

The complete opposite of the song I bring you today, a love song from someone who knows that God loves them and expresses their gratitude for that love, wishing in turn to love God "to the extreme." It is a beautiful song that can be part of our personal prayer.

I remember how I first learned this song: At that time, I was directing the "Shalom" choir at Our Lady of Las Mercedes Church in Villa de Cura, Aragua state, Venezuela. The Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist traveled to the city of Maracay—the state capital—to conduct a spiritual retreat. Upon their return, one of the Ministers told me that they had sung a song that was "too beautiful." She didn't know the title but had copied part of the lyrics. He gave it to me, and I gave it to Eduar Martinez (Hive account@eduarmarinez), the only male member of the choir, who at the time lived in Villa de Cura. After graduating with a degree in Social Communication, he posted his resume on various websites and received a call from a television station in the capital. He's there now, working on the text that will be read on the news. Well, Eduard got the lyrics and the video from YouTube, we rehearsed it, and premiered it as a song for Communion.
These are the lyrics.