Each person, consecrated to God in baptism, received his (her) vocation from God, that it be in the great sacrament

of matrimony or the vocation to celibacy. The person, called to holiness in the sacrament of matrimony, consecrates himself (herself) to live totally for the spouse and children; it is a consecration to live as first teachers for others in the family. In the vocation to celibacy, the consecration is to live for others in the religious life or lay person in the Church as catequist. VOCATION IS THE PATH WHERE GOD MEETS TO SANCTIFY EACH ONE CALLED!

1Cor 7: 1-40

Eph 5:21-6:1-9 1Cor 7:1-40

Partiendo precisamente de esto deseara subrayar brevemente tres significados del adjetivo apostlica aplicado a la Iglesia.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good Morning! When we recite the Creed we say I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I dont know if you have ever reflected on the meaning of the expression the Church is apostolic. Perhaps from time to time, coming to Rome, you have thought about the importance of the Apostles Peter and Paul who here gave their lives to bring and bear witness to the Gospel. But it is even more. To profess that the Church is apostolic means to stress the constitutive bond that she has with the Apostles, with that small group of 12 men whom Jesus one day called to himself, he called them by name, that they might remain with him and that he might send them out to preach (cf. Mk 3:13-19). Apostle, in fact, is a Greek word meaning sent, dispatched. An Apostle is a person who has been given a mandate, he is sent to do something and the Apostles were chosen, called and sent out by Jesus to continue his work, that is to pray which is the primary job of an apostle and, second, to proclaim the Gospel. This is important, because when we think of the Apostles we might think that they were only sent out to proclaim the Gospel, to do many good deeds. However, a problem arose in the early times of the Church because of how much the Apostles had to do, and that is why they instituted deacons, so that there would be more time for the Apostles to pray and proclaim the Word of God. When we think of the Successors of the Apostles, the bishops this includes the Pope for he too is a bishop we must ask ourselves if this successor of the Apostles prays first and then proclaims the Gospel: this is what it means to be an Apostle and this is what makes the Church apostolic. Every one of us, if we want to be apostles as I shall explain now, must ask ourselves: do I pray for the salvation of the world? Do I proclaim the Gospel? This is the Church apostolic! It is the constitutive bond that we have with the Apostles. Starting from this I would like to focus briefly on the three meanings of the adjective apostolic as it is applied to the Church.

1. The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the preaching and prayer of the Apostles, on the authority that was entrusted to them by Christ himself. St Paul writes to the Christians of Ephesus: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being a cornerstone (2:19-20); that is, he compares Christians to living stones that form an edifice that is the Church, and this edifice is founded on the Apostles, like columns, and the cornerstone that carries it all is Jesus himself. Without Jesus the Church cannot exist! Jesus is the foundation of the Church, the foundation! The Apostles lived with Jesus, they listened to his words, they shared his life, above all they were witnesses of his Death and Resurrection. Our faith, the Church that Christ willed, is not based on an idea, it is not based on a philosophy, it is based on Christ himself. And the Church is like a plant that over the long centuries has grown, has developed, has borne fruit, yet her roots are planted firmly in Him and that fundamental experience of Christ which the Apostles had, chosen and sent out by Jesus, reaching all the way to us. From this little plant to our day: this is how the Church has spread everywhere in the world.
2. But let us ask ourselves: how is it possible for us to be connected to that testimony, how could what the Apostles experienced with Jesus, what they heard from him reach us? This is the second meaning of the term apostolic. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the Church is apostolic because with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, the good deposit, the salutary words she has heard from the Apostles (n. 857).

Over the centuries, the Church conserves this precious treasure, which is Sacred Scripture, doctrine, the Sacraments, the ministry of Pastors, so that we can be faithful to Christ and share in his very life. It is like a river coursing through history, developing, irrigating; but running water always comes from a source, and the source is Christ himself: he is the Risen One, he is the Living One, and his words never pass away, for he does not pass, he is alive, he is among us today, he hears us and we speak to him and he listens, he is in our hearts. Jesus is with us today! This is the beauty of the Church: the presence of Jesus Christ among us. Do we ever think about how important this gift that Jesus gave us is, the gift of the Church, where we can meet him? Do we ever think about how it is precisely the Church on her journey through the centuries despite the difficulties, the problems, the weaknesses, our sins that transmits to us the authentic message of Christ? She gives us the certainty that what we believe in is really what Christ communicated to us?

3-LA IGLESIA ENVIADA PARA ENSEAR EL EVANGELIO A TODAS LAS NACIONES El ltimo pensamiento: la Iglesia es apostlica porque es enviada a llevar el Evangelio a todo el mundo. Contina en el camino de la historia la misin misma que Jess ha encomendado a los Apstoles: Id, pues, y haced discpulos a todos los pueblos, bautizndolos en el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espritu Santo; ensendoles a guardar todo lo que os he mandado. Y sabed que yo estoy con vosotros todos los das, hasta el final de los tiempos (Mt 28, 19-21). Esto es lo que Jess nos ha dicho que hagamos. Insisto en este aspecto de la misionariedad porque Cristo invita a todos a ir al encuentro de los dems, nos enva, nos pide que nos movamos para llevar la alegra del Evangelio. Una vez ms preguntmonos: somos misioneros con nuestra palabra, pero sobre todo con nuestra vida cristiana, con nuestro testimonio? O somos cristianos encerrados en nuestro corazn y en nuestras iglesias, cristianos de sacrista? Cristianos slo de palabra, pero que viven como paganos? Debemos hacernos estas preguntas, que no son un reproche. Tambin yo lo digo a m mismo: cmo soy cristiano, con el testimonio realmente? La Iglesia tiene sus races en la enseanza de los Apstoles, testigos autnticos de Cristo, pero mira hacia el futuro, tiene la firme conciencia de ser enviada enviada por Jess, de ser misionera, llevando el nombre de Jess con la oracin, el anuncio y el testimonio. Una Iglesia que se cierra en s misma y en el pasado, una Iglesia que mira slo las pequeas reglas de costumbres, de actitudes, es una Iglesia que traiciona la propia identidad; una Iglesia cerrada traiciona la propia identidad! Entonces redescubramos hoy toda la belleza y la responsabilidad de ser Iglesia apostlica. Y recordad: Iglesia apostlica porque oramos primera tarea y porque anunciamos el Evangelio con nuestra vida y con nuestras palabras.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[a] may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

2Tim 3:16-4:1-5

1 Cor 7:25-40
25 Now

1Cor 7:25-39

concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lords mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that, in view of the impending[a] crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life,[b] and I would spare you that. 29 I mean, brothers and sisters,[c] the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. 32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33 but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
En cualquier caso, cada uno debe vivir conforme a la condicin que el Seor le asign y a la cual Dios lo ha llamado

Matthew 25:14-30

the holy Pastor of Ars