FIRST READING – Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
« This reading from the book of Ezekiel presents God as the shepherd of his people
« In the reading this idea is explained in two parts:
o In verses 11-16 of which the liturgy only takes 11-12 and 15 God will change the evil the bad shepherds did to the people
§ God, himself will take care of his people which has been led astray by his kings and teachers. He will take care of his people which has been taken into exile, far from its homeland
§ He will look for the sheep that have been scattered on cloudy and dark days. He will bring them back from all the countries, and they will return to their homeland. Homeland symbolizes all that is good in life.
§ God himself will take care of them, He will feed and heal them. He will bring them back and lead them to good pastures; to the knowledge of God, and to the obedience to his voice.
o On verse 17 another section begins with a different tone:
§ There are good and bad sheep and they have to be separated from each other.
§ Jesus probably inspired himself on this passage from Ezekiel, for the parable we will read this coming Sunday, on the Last judgment.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Psalm 23
The way the psalms present God is not different from the rest of the Old Testament. God is seen as: savior and creator.
God is the only savior of Israel, God liberated him from bondage, from the slavery in Egypt and transformed it into a people. Many psalms sing to God as Savior and Liberator. Other psalms present God as creator, and many of them emphasize his power and providence. Psalm 23 portrays God as a shepherd, It is a psalm of total trust. God is seen as a shepherd and also as the one who prepares the table for the meal, as savior and as provident creator. The psalmist does not fear the dark valley because the Shepherd goes with him. He knows that he will dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come. SECOND READING – 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28
Ø Beginning on verse 12 of chapter 15 Paul reflects on the meaning of our resurrection based on the resurrection of Jesus.
Ø The faith in the Risen Lord brings us to the unshakeable hope in our own resurrection.
Ø If we do not believe and hope in the resurrection of the dead, we will not believe either in the resurrection of Jesus.
Ø On verse 20 Paul exclaims full of hope: Christ is risen as the first among those who are sleep (dead)!
o Jesus is risen not as the only one, or as an exception, but as the first one.
o As the first born, not in a chronological sense, but as the active principle of the resurrection of all.
o This is so because Jesus has been established by God as the beginning of the new human race.
GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 25:31-46
This parable describes very vividly the judgment of the nations, which the Son of Man, Jesus, will pass on the behavior of all and each one of us. This parable is the culmination of the three preceding parables on the need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. These parables are:o The steward who abuses his co-workers while his master is away
o The five young women who did not take oil with their lamps
o The servant who did not put the money of his master to produce
Matthew puts this parable at the end of Jesus’ ministry before the events of his Paschal mystery. In this we can see how important is this parable for Matthew. This parable is a discernment = to separate one thing or person from another. During this discernment we will see clearly:o The difference between the wheat and the weed (Mt 13:24-30); between the good fish and the bad (Mt 13:47-50); between the faithful and the unfaithful servant (Mt. 24: 45-51); between the wise and foolish young women (Mt 25:1-13); between the loyal servants and the unfaithful servant (Mt 25:14-30)
The Shepherd is the Lord, who uses a very peculiar and unexpected measurement to discern between the sheep In this judgment the decision will be taken based on the loving attitude toward the least brothers and sisters of Jesus who are in great need: hungry, thirsty, naked…. Brothers and sisters may be only the ones from my own faith community and country, or it may mean every human being. The Church teaches this last option. To be vigilant and ready according to this parable, means to live according to the commandment of love. Jesus in to the gospel of Matthew is the Emmanuelo In whom the prophesy of Isaiah is accomplished Mt 1,18-25
o He is the Emmanuel because he is the Lord who is in the midst of his community
o He is the Emmanuel because he is present where two or three gather together to pray
o He is the Emmanuel who will be with us until the end of time Mt 28,16-20
o He is the Emmanuel who is with everyone who needs us.
To discover the Lord present in the least of our brothers and sisters moved so many holy men and women to give their lives for the sake of others. I will only mention some who lived in the last two centuries:o Damien of Molokay, or Damien the Leper who from his early years in the religious community went to Molokay to live among the lepers, to be one of them, and at the he died like them, a leper.
o Dorothy Day, the woman who was an atheist when she was young, but always concerned about the poor and about the injustices of society. When she met Christ she changed her life, and dedicated herself to serve the needy during the economic depression of 1930. What moved her were the words of Jesus: “whenever you did it for the least of my brothers…”
o Martin Luther King, Jr. The black American Baptist Pastor who believed in the equal dignity of every human being no matter what color or race. He worked to obtain this recognition for the people of his own race, and was assassinated for it.
o Oscar Romero, Bishop of El Salvador, who denounced the injustices committed against the poor of his country, and in the process he was killed.
o Ignatius Elacuria, the Jesuit from Spain, who in spite of knowing that his life was in danger he did not stop to promote, in his classes at the University of San Salvador, the dignity of each human person.
o Theresa of Calcutta who decided to dedicate her life to the service of the least, men and women, in Calcutta, when she heard a man saying “I am thirsty”, words which reminded her of Jesus’ words on the cross.
There are many more witnesses, as we are told in the Book of Revelation, I have mentioned here some of them, the ones I know better and maybe also the ones who have inspired me the most.
In this occasion I felt very weight down because when he told me to visit the house to arrange the distribution of the rooms, he was already committed up to the point of having already the keys of the house and the contract signed, as I said before. I had great pity of embarrassing him and, at the same time, I desired to please him, but seeing that it was of no profit for our purpose and that the months fly and it is very hard to earn 80 pesos, I did not know what to do. But God our Lord who, in everything has given me a hand and takes care even of the most tiny and domestic things, as a father of families, provided a very easy way in part to please the procurator but not with much noise as with the transfer to another house. María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters , Autobiography 185.
From Puerto Príncipe I pushed on to Nuevitas, where we also gave a mission, and from there we went on to Baga, San Miguel, and San Jerónimo, returning to Puerto Príncipe to celebrate Christmas. We chanted Matins and celebrated a Solemn High Midnight Mass in the Church of Our Lady of Solitude. At this time Father Barjau fell ill with yellow fever. His condition became quite serious, but he recovered perfectly, thank God. After this we continued giving missions, administering Confirmation, visiting parishes, and working our way, parish after parish, until we reached Santiago for Holy Week. We performed all the ceremonies of Holy Week with great solemnity because well in advance of this we had instructed all the priests who were to take part in the Mass of Chrism, and other services, in the proper observance of the rubrics. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 527.
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