jueves, 26 de diciembre de 2013

~CÁNTICO DE VICTORIA~


Isaías 42 ( 10 - 23)

Cantad al Señor un canto nuevo,
su alabanza desde los extremos
de la tierra;
le ensalce el mar y cuanto abarca,
las islas con todos sus habitantes.
Alcen su voz el desierto 
y sus ciudades,
las aldeas en que habita Quedar,
aclamen los habitantes de Petra,
desde lo alto de los montes 
lancen gritos.
¡Den gloria al Señor,
hasta en las islas pregonen su alabanza!
El Señor avanza como un héroe,
como un guerrero excita su valor,
lanza el grito de guerra, el alarido,
marcha poderoso contra sus enemigos.
He estado en silencio 
por mucho tiempo,
me he callado, me he contenido;
ya gimo como mujer en parto,
suspiro y jadeo.
Voy a secar montes y colinas,
agostaré todo su verdor;
trocaré los ríos en tierra seca 
y secaré los pantanos.
Guiaré a los ciegos
por caminos que no conocen, 
por senderos ignorados
los haré caminar;
ante ellos cambiaré las tinieblas en luz y en llano el terreno pedregoso.
Todo esto es lo que voy a hacer y lo haré sin falta.
Se darán a la fuga,
cubiertos de vergüenza,
los que confían en sus ídolos,
los que dicen a las imágenes fundidas
¡Vosotros sois nuestros dioses!

CEGUERA DEL PUEBLO EN EL DESTIERRO

¡Sordos, oíd!
¡Ciegos, abrid vuestros ojos para ver!
¿Quién está ciego, sino mi siervo?
¿Quién sordo como el mensajero que yo envío ?
¿Quién está ciego como mi enviado y sordo como el siervo del Señor?
¡Has visto muchas cosas,
sin enterarte;
tienes abiertos los oídos, más no oyes.
El Señor quiere,
por amor a su justicia,
engrandecer y magnificar la ley.
Pero este es un pueblo saqueado y despojado;
todos están presos en cavernas,
en calabozos encerrados.
Botín se han vuelto,
y no hay quien los libre;
saqueo, y nadie dice: ¡Restituye!
¿Quién de vosotros presta oído a esto, está atento y lo guarda para el porvenir?

••• CONSULTAS BIBLICAS •••

~SONG OF VICTORY~



Isaiah 42 ( 10 - 23 )

Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela exult, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare His praise in the islands.
 The LORD will go forth as a mighty man, He will stir up jealousy like a man of war; He will cry, yea, He will shout aloud, He will prove Himself mighty against His enemies. 
I have long time held My peace,
I have been still, and refrained Myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman, gasping and panting at once.
I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, in paths that they knew not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and rugged places plain. These things will I do, and I will not leave them undone..  
They shall be turned back, greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images: 'Ye are our gods.'

BLINDNESS OF THE PEOPLE IN EXILE 


¡Hear, ye deaf!
¡and look, ye blind, that ye may see!
Who is blind, but My servant? 
Or deaf, as My messenger that I send? 
Who is blind as he that is wholehearted, and blind as the LORD'S servant?
 Seeing many things, thou observest not; opening the ears, he heareth not.
The LORD was pleased, for His righteousness' sake, to make the teaching great and glorious. But this is a people robbed and spoiled, they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses; they are for a prey, and none delivereth, for a spoil, and none saith: ¡Restore!
Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the   time to come?


••• BIBLICAL RESPONSES •••

lunes, 23 de diciembre de 2013

~EL FUEGO Y LAS TINIEBLAS~



Sabiduría 17 ( 1 - 21 )

Grandes e inescrutables son tus juicios, 
por eso las almas sin instrucción se extraviaron.
Estos malvados, que habían querido oprimir al pueblo santo, 
yacían prisioneros de las tinieblas 
y encadenados por una larga noche, 
encerrados bajo sus techos, excluidos de tu eterna providencia.
Cuando pensaban quedar ocultos con sus pecados secretos,
bajo el oscuro velo del olvido,
fueron ellos mismos inmersos en las tinieblas, 
espantados y despavoridos con fantasmas.
Pues ni el escondrijo que los abrigaba pudo preservarlos del temor.
Ruidos terroríficos resonaban a su alrededor,
y sombríos fantasmas de rostros tristes se les aparecían.
Ni el fuego más potente era capaz de dar luz, 
ni la llama brillante de los astros podía iluminar aquella noche horrenda.
Sólo se les dejaba ver una hoguera, 
que se encendía por si misma e infundía terror;
una vez desaparecida la visión, quedaban aterrados y les parecía más terrible aún lo que habían visto.
Los trucos de la magia fueron un fracaso, 
y la ciencia de que presumían, una frustración.
Los que prometían ahuyentar los miedos y las perturbaciones de las almas acobardadas, ellos mismos padecían un miedo ridículo.
Aunque no hubiera nada terrible que pudiera asustarlos, ellos, sobresaltados por el paso de los animales y el silbido de las serpientes
se morían temblando de miedo, no atreviéndose ni a mirar al aire,
al que de ningún modo es posible evitar.
Pues la maldad es cobarde, 
y se condena por su propio testimonio;
acosada por su propia conciencia, siempre se imagina lo peor,
por que el temor no es otra cosa que la renuncia a los auxilios de la razón;
cuanto menor es la confianza en los recursos interiores,
mayor se juzga la ignorada causa del tormento.
Ellos, en medio de aquella noche impotente,
salida de las profundidades del impotente abismo,
sumidos todos en el mismo sueño,
unos eran perseguidos por fantasmas monstruosos,
otros desfallecían por abatimiento, 
por que un repentino e inesperado terror se había apoderado de ellos.
Luego, si alguno caía, allí era encarcelado, 
prisionero en una cárcel sin rejas.
Ya fuese labrador o pastor,
ya fuese un obrero que trabaja en solitario,
sufría, sorprendido, el castigo inevitable;
pero todos estaban atados por una misma cadena de tinieblas.
Una ráfaga de viento,
el canto melodioso de los pájaros en la enramada, 
el rumor cadencioso de las aguas que se precipitan con fuerza, 
el rudo estrépito de piedras que se despeñan,
la carrera invisible de animales que brincan,
el rugido de ferocísimas bestias,
el eco repercutiendo en las concavidades de las montañas,
todo los dejaba paralizados de terror.
Mientras todo el universo era iluminado por una luz esplendorosa y se entregaba a sus trabajos libremente,
sólo sobre ellos se había extendido una densa noche,
imagen de las tinieblas que les estaban reservadas;
pero ellos eran más pesados para sí que las mismas tinieblas.

18 ( 1 - 4 )

Una luz espléndida brillaba, en cambio, para tus santos.
Los egipcios, que oían su voz sin ver su figura,
los proclamaban dichosos,
aunque primero hubiesen padecido;
por que no los maltrataban por los agravios recibidos,
les daban gracias y les pedían perdón por su hostilidad.
A los tuyos, por el contrario, les diste una columna llameante,
guía para un camino desconocido,
sol inofensivo de una gloriosa emigración.
Pues aquellos merecieron ser privados de la luz
y ser encerrados en tinieblas por haber tenido prisioneros a tus hijos,
por quienes debía darse al mundo la luz incorruptible de la ley.


••• CONSULTAS BÍBLICAS •••

~THE FIRE AND DARKNESS~



Wisdom 17 ( 1 - 21 )


Yes, your judgements are great and impenetrable, which is why uninstructed souls have gone astray.
While the wicked supposed they had a holy nation in their power, they themselves lay prisoners of the dark, in the fetters of long night, confined under their own roofs, banished from eternal providence.
While they thought to remain unnoticed with their secret sins, curtained by dark forgetfulness, they were scattered in fearful dismay, terrified by apparitions.
The hiding place sheltering them could not ward off their fear; terrifying noises echoed round them; and gloomy, grim-faced spectres haunted them.
No fire had power enough to give them light, nor could the brightly blazing stars illuminate that dreadful night.
The only light for them was a great, spontaneous blaze -- a fearful sight to see! And in their terror, once that sight had vanished, they thought what they had seen more terrible than ever.
Their magical illusions were powerless now, and their claims to intelligence were ignominiously confounded;
for those who promised to drive out fears and disorders from sick souls were now themselves sick with ludicrous fright.
Even when there was nothing frightful to scare them, the vermin creeping past and the hissing of reptiles filled them with panic;
they died convulsed with fright, refusing even to look at empty air, which cannot be eluded anyhow!
Wickedness is confessedly very cowardly, and it condemns itself; under pressure from conscience it always assumes the worst.
Fear, indeed, is nothing other than the failure of the help offered by reason;
the less you rely within yourself on this, the more alarming it is not to know the cause of your suffering.
And they, all locked in the same sleep, while that darkness lasted -- which was in fact quite powerless and had issued from the depths of equally powerless Hades-
were now chased by monstrous spectres, now paralysed by the fainting of their souls; for a sudden, unexpected terror had attacked them.
And thus, whoever it might be that fell there stayed clamped to the spot in this prison without bars.
Whether he was ploughman or shepherd, or somebody at work in the desert, he was still overtaken and suffered the inevitable fate, for all had been bound by the one same chain of darkness.
The soughing of the wind, the tuneful noise of birds in the spreading branches, the measured beat of water in its powerful course, the headlong din of rocks cascading down,
the unseen course of bounding animals, the roaring of the most savage of wild beasts, the echo rebounding from the clefts in the mountains, all held them paralysed with fear.
For the whole world shone with the light of day and, unhindered, went about its work;
over them alone there spread a heavy darkness, image of the dark that would receive them. But heavier than the darkness was the burden they were to themselves.

18 ( 1 - 4 )

For your holy ones, however, there was a very great light. The Egyptians, who could hear them but not see them, called them fortunate because they had not suffered too;
they thanked them for doing no injury in return for previous wrongs and asked forgiveness for their past ill-will.
In contrast to the darkness, you gave your people a pillar of blazing fire to guide them on their unknown journey, a mild sun for their ambitious migration.
But well those others deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness, for they had kept in captivity your children, by whom the incorruptible light of the Law was to be given to the world.


 ••• BIBLICAL RESPONSES •••

domingo, 22 de diciembre de 2013

~LOS MALOS GUÍAS DEL PUEBLO~



Ezequiel 34 (1 - 10)

El Señor me dijo: "Hijo de hombre,
profetiza contra los pastores de Israel y diles: Pastores, esto dice el Señor Dios: ¡Ay de los pastores de Israel que se apacientan a si mismos! ¿No es el rebaño al que deben apacentar los pastores?
Vosotros os tomáis la leche y os vestís con la lana; matáis las ovejas cebadas, pero no apacentáis el rebaño.
No habéis fortalecido a las débiles ni habéis curado a las enfermas; no habéis vendado a las heridas, no habéis hecho volver a las descarriadas ni buscado a las perdidas, sino que las habéis conducido con crueldad y violencia. Y ahora andan dispersas, por falta de pastor, presa de todas las fieras del campo; andan dispersas mis ovejas; errantes por todos los montes, por todos los collados, dispersas mis ovejas por todo el país, sin que las busque nadie ni las cuide. Escuchad, pues, pastores, la palabra del Señor: por mi vida, dice el Señor Dios, que por haber sido mi rebaño expuesto al pillaje y mis ovejas pasto de todas las fieras del campo por falta de pastor, por no haber cuidado mis pastores mi ganado y haberse en cambio apacentado a sí mismos en lugar de mi rebaño, por eso, escuchad, pastores, la palabra del Señor. 
Esto dice el Señor Dios: Aquí estoy yo contra los pastores reclamando mi rebaño de sus manos. No les confiaré más el pastoreo de mi rebaño, así no se apacentarán más  a sí mismos. Les arrebataré mi ganado de su boca y ya no les servirá de pasto.


••• CONSULTAS BIBLICAS •••

~THE EVIL LEADERS OF PEOPLE ~


Ezekiel  34 ( 1 - 10 )

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, even to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that have fed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the sheep?
Ye did eat the fat, and ye clothed you with the wool, ye killed the fatlings; but ye fed not the sheep.
The weak have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force have ye ruled over them and with rigour.
So were they scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered.
My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill, yea, upon all the face of the earth were My sheep scattered, and there was none that did search or seek.
Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely forasmuch as My sheep became a prey, and My sheep became food to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds search for My sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not My sheep; therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require My sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver My sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them. 


 ••• BIBLICAL RESPONSES •••

viernes, 20 de diciembre de 2013

GOD WILL DESTROY THE IDOLS



Jeremiah 51:44-58

And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
    and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
The nations shall no longer flow to him;
    the wall of Babylon has fallen.
“Go out of the midst of her, my people!
    Let every one save his life
    from the fierce anger of the Lord!
Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
    at the report heard in the land,
when a report comes in one year
    and afterward a report in another year,
and violence is in the land,
    and ruler is against ruler.
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming
    when I will punish the images of Babylon;
her whole land shall be put to shame,
    and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
Then the heavens and the earth,
    and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon,
    for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
declares the Lord.
Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
“You who have escaped from the sword,
    go, do not stand still!
Remember the Lord from far away,
    and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
    dishonor has covered our face,
for foreigners have come
    into the holy places of the Lord's house.’
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will execute judgment upon her images,
and through all her land
    the wounded shall groan.
Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
    and though she should fortify her strong height,
yet destroyers would come from me against her,
    declares the Lord.
“A voice! A cry from Babylon!
    The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
For the Lord is laying Babylon waste
    and stilling her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like many waters;
    the noise of their voice is raised,
for a destroyer has come upon her,
    upon Babylon;
her warriors are taken;
    their bows are broken in pieces,
for the Lord is a God of recompense;
    he will surely repay.
I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
    her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
    declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
    shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
The peoples labor for nothing,
    and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”


 ••• BIBLICAL RESPONSES •••