XXX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

 The first Reading from the Book of Exodus and the Gospel from St. Matthew remind us of our human relationships. 

The second Reading taken from the First letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. Last week he greeted them and helped them to remember how they accepted the faith. This coming Sunday Paul will praise  the community for their faith known in the whole region.

FIRST READING  – EXODUS  22:20-26

Ø  The book of Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament. It narrates the liberation of the Hebrew slaves and other slaves, from Egypt.  It explains also how this group of slaves becomes a nation when they enter into a  covenant with God on Mount Sinai or Horeb as it is sometimes called.   

Ø  In this covenant God puts some conditions which are his Ten Words of Love, as one moral theologian calls the Ten Commandments. Making these words real in their daily life, the people of will become  the true image of God.  

Ø  And God said to them, I will be your God and you will be my people. 

Ø  We find these Ten Words of God for the first time in the book of Exodus, chapter 20. 

Ø  The chapters that follow chapter 20 explains the commandments and give some directions to implement them in their daily life.    

Ø  On this XXX Sunday in Ordinary time, le liturgy of the Church presents to us some verses of chapter 22. 

Ø  These verses tell us about the love and mercy toward our neighbor, love that  goes beyond the mere ethical imperative to fulfill the commandments. It is an invitation to go beyond our own interests,  to reach out to our brothers and sisters.   

Ø  As we read the chapter that follow chapter 20 of the book of Exodus, it seems that the people is still on Mount Sinai, but the truth is that these chapters are the result of a long period of reflection, meditation and prayer to understand appropriately the Words pronounced by God on Mount Sinai. On this process they discover that to fulfill the law is to have a loving relationship with our God and Lord.  

Ø  Some of the laws show a great sensitiveness with the will of God, as we know it after Jesus has come to live with us.   Others, on the contrary, seem unjust or harsh, but they show a process of growth of the people, which at the beginning thinks that God does everything, the good and the bad things that happen to us.   

Ø  Little by little the people of Israel  will realize that they were  the ones that did the things and that God as a good parent accompanied them and taught them until they were  able to discover his will completely.  This process continues to take  place  the Church in each one of us. This is also true in some way for every human being. God works inside our hearts.

Ø  The verses we will read this coming Sunday, show to us the heart of God. 

God asks Israel not to mistreat the foreigner, the immigrant who lives among them; because they themselves had been foreigners in Egypt. 

Ø  They will not wrong the poor and abandoned, represented in the two great categories of poor in Israel:

o   The widows who do not have a husband or a father or an adult son to take care of them. The orphans who do not have anyone to protect them.  

Ø  When we forget them, and we abandoned them, we hurt ourselves also. Israel expresses this saying that the wrath of God comes upon us.    

Ø  What will GOD SAY TODAY WHEN THE PERCENTAGE OF OPPRESSED, HUNGRY AND ABUSED PEOPLE IS TOO HIGH?  What DOES OUR FATHER GOD SAY TO US IN THAT SITUATION?   WILL HE REMAIN INDIFFERENT?   

Ø  The two last verses that we will read are about relationships in financial and economic situations.   

I am  asked to treat the other persons as I treat myself.

REPONSORIAL PSALM   18:2-3,3-4,47.51     

                        This psalm is a beautiful example of Hebrew poetry and of biblical religiosity. 

      A biblical commentator  says that it is no more and no less than a declaration of love. 

      He gives different names to God praising him and calling him “my God.”   

      We can perceive that the psalmist  experiences the loving protection of God in his life.

I love You, Lord, my strength  

O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliver.   

My God, my rock of refuge 

My shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! 

I love You, Lord, my strength 

 Praise be the Lord, I exclaim,

And I am safe from  my enemies, 

I love You, Lord, my strength 

Blessed be my Rock!  

Extolled be God my savior! 

You who gave great victories to your King

And showed kindness to your anointed. 

I love You, Lord, my strength 

SECOND READING - 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10

«  Paul arrived to the city of Thessalonica accompanied by Timothy and Sylvanus after they had been expelled from the city of Philippi   (Acts 16:16-40).

«  The community they established in Thessalonica, according to what we read in this letter, was a community of great faith 

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW  22:34-40

ü  Last Sunday we read the conversation of the Pharisees and Herodians with Jesus. How they wanted to put him to the test. Is it lawful for us people of God to pay taxes to Ceasar? 

ü  In the Gospel of Matthew this passage is followed by one in which the Sadducees put a question to Jesus: does the resurrection of the dead really exist?  

ü  Today the Pharisees take their turn in asking Jesus, it is about the greatest commandment. They ask Jesus although they already know the answer which is found in the Law     

ü  Which is the greatest commandment?

ü  Why do they ask this question? Does not the Law already say: listen Israel, the Lord alone is God, you shall love him….  

ü  Probably they had seen the loving relationship of Jesus with sinners and with people of bad reputation, and how he made them feel that they were worthy. They had probably even heard the parable that Jesus told   about the last judgment and on what are we going to be judged.    

ü  Jesus, as a good Israelite as he was,  answered them: The first is to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, strength….  

ü  Jesus says this is the greatest commandment,   but there is another equally important: You shall love your neighbor…   

ü  Jesus continues to say, on these two commandments the whole law is based and the prophets as well.  We may say: the law tells how to live as a good Israelite,  and the prophets will interpret and explain the law for the people.

ü  Albert Nolan in his book  Jesus Today. A Spirituality of Radical Freedom gives a very interesting reflection on what Jesus said about the love of God and the love of neighbor.  

ü  He says:

o   Jesus explains  in Matthew 25:  when you did it to the least of these…. You did it to me.   

o   To love each other is the result of the realization that all of us are one.  This is the solidarity which exists among the members of a family or a nation.

o   This bond of solidarity is in the Hebrew Scriptures the origin of the love of our neighbor. (Lv 19,18).

o   Each one of us loves his or her own as we love ourselves. 

o   According to the law of Israel this love could be extended to the foreigner who lived among the people of Israel (Lv 19,34; Dt 10,18-19).

o   But to nobody else and by sure not to the enemies.  

ü  What Jesus does

o   Is to enlarge this bond of solidarity among the members of the same family to the whole human race. 

o   You were told: love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 

o   But I say to you: love your enemies…( Mt 5,43-44)

o   Jesus looked at every human being as his family: his brother, sister, mother, uncle, cousin…. 

o   He identified himself with them no matter what kind of life did they have, and even if they hated him, He kept saying: whatever you do to one of these you do it to me…  

o   And the greatest novelty about the teaching of Jesus is that when I love my neighbor I am loving God “whenever you did it… you did it to me.   

OCTOBER 24

FEAST OF ST. ANTHONY MARY CLARET

APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY,

MYSTIC AND MAN OF ACTION