« Las Sunday it was only “come and see”, but this coming Sunday it is a call for a mission.
« The mission is to do as our master did, to call to conversion, to a change in life, because God is in our midst, his kingdom is here. “REPENT.”
« In the second reading Paul tells us that the time is short.
FIRST READING – BOOK OF JONAH
Ø We find the book of Jonah among the prophetic books, although it is not a prophetic book.
Ø It is a didactic story with an important theological message: the universality of salvation.
Ø Jonah stands for a narrow and vindictive mentality of his time. The leaders of the people of Israel taught the people to hate the foreigner.
Ø The book of Jonah raises many questions for those who think that salvation is only for the chosen people.
Ø We have in the New Testament a couple of parables which confuse us, like the book of Jonah confused the people of Israel of his time: the prodigal son, the workers to the vineyard. Because all those readings speak to us about the generosity of God, his love without boundaries.
Ø In the past this book has been considered and studied in different ways: as historical book, as an allegory, but both views were abandoned.
Ø At the present most of the biblical scholars consider that the story in the book is a parable to teach a truth. It is therefore a Book of wisdom.
Ø The time of the book of Jonah is between the return from the Babylonian exile V century B.C. and the II century B.C. because by that time the book of Jonah was already among the minor prophets.
Ø The choice of the city of Nineveh was on purpose, this city was known for its cruelty, it was the representation of all that is evil.
Ø The book of Jonah presents to us the possibility:
o Of the conversion of the oppressors.
o And the acceptance on the part of Israel of the fact that God is merciful toward the oppressor
o And this message becomes harder to accept, when as we read in the book, the preaching of Jonah does not have the goal that Nineveh change its religion and accept Israel’s faith. The only thing asked from Nineveh is to repent, to change its evil ways.
Ø The book has two parts, which corresponds to the two calls made by God to Jonah.
o First call cc.1-2 (Jonah does not want, and he does not go)
o Second call cc.3-4 (Jonah does what God asks him to do.
SUNDAY’S READING Jon 3: 1-5,10.
Ø This Reading is taken from the second part of the book of Jonah, when God calls Jonah for the second time.
Ø At this time Jonah has the resolution to obey God, he has learned his lesson.
Ø Jonah proclaims the message that God has given him.
Ø At the end of the first day, the inhabitants of Nineveh listened to his message, repented, and began to make penance.
Ø The author of the book says that God sees through that.
Ø And God also repented. He repented from the punishment he had announced to Nineveh through Jonah.
Ø We may draw several messages from this book:
o Today it speaks to us about fidelity to our mission.
o The people of Nineveh believes in the words of Jonah, and trusts that God might change his decision.
o Our actions may change what God had decided to do, this might seem impossible to us, but there are several places in the Bible where we may read about this same situation, in which God changes his decision.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 25:4-5. 6-7. 8-9.
Psalm 25 is a psalm of supplication and trust. It has three parts: o Initial invocation and supplication vv. 1-7
o Sapiential reflection vv. 8-15
o Final supplication
It has a concentric structure: the first and last parts match in themes and vocabulary. The author uses also repetitions and contrasts The responsorial psalm is taken from the first and second parts TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, O LORD
Your ways, o Lord, make known to me;Teach me your paths
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior
TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, O LORD
Remember that your compassion o Lord and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me because of your goodness.
TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, O LORD
Good and upright is the Lord thus he shows sinners the way
He guides the humble to justice he teaches the humble his way.
TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, O LORD
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK 1:14-20
ü Mark presents the young man Jesus preaching the good news in Galilee.
ü What is the good news? It is an invitation to reform our life because in the person of Jesus the Kingdom of God is here.
ü It is an invitation to proclaim the Good News to help our brothers and sisters that they may allow God to transform them. He is always ready, we need to open our hearts to his presence, so he may transform us.
ü The Gospel of Mark is called the Gospel of the disciple, because through his entire Gospel Mark tells us how a disciple of Jesus, the Son of God, is supposed to live.
ü The author of the Gospel of Mark presents the call of the first disciples in a different way than John in his gospel. Each one of the evangelists wants to let us know that the Lord called disciples to make a group. Each evangelist uses different literary techniques according to his purpose.
ü In the Gospel of John, that we read last Sunday, two of the disciples of John the Baptist followed Jesus, and Jesus invited them to “come and see.”
ü For Mark Jesus walks around the Sea of Galilee and calls two couples of brothers who are working.
ü These four men are working to earn a living for themselves and their families, and the call comes when they are at work, not when they are praying. The call of God comes at different times.
ü The Lord continues to call each one of us in our concrete situation. The Lord calls us, speaks to us in our daily life, during our working hours, and also in our prayer.
ü According to the gospels the disciples answered at once, following immediately the Lord.
ü Probably they took some time to let their families know that they were leaving them to follow Jesus.
ü In the Gospel of Mark the call is repeated in different times and different situations of the person who is called. In chapter 1 Jesus calls them “follow me…” in chapter 3 from the disciples he chooses the apostles, and in chapter 6 he sends them to preach and to heal.
ü It happens in the same in our call. But it is more exact to say that the knowledge of the call is progressive, not the call. Because we have been called to life and to a mission before being born.
SECOND READING 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
« It would seem that in this passage of his letter Paul is telling us not to be involved with anything.
« But I think that the text is inviting us to put the things in our life in perspective, the historical events, our work, our family.
« For us nowadays it could be a call to slow down. We are so enthusiastic, proud and secure of our technical achievements that we think that we are invincible, that we can do anything that we want. All the new scientific discoveries are good, but we need to acknowledge that there are superior values over these, which remain forever, our relationship with the Lord.
« To put everything in perspective helps us to realize that we are not the owners of creation and of our lives… that we are only stewards. The true Lord and the true master of history is the Lord.
« It is also an opportunity to realize and to accept the recognition of our weakness, our poverty and our defects. This will help us to see the good that is in us, and that God takes care of us every day in all circumstances.
« The life span of our life, even when it is long, is very short, and we cannot waste it, we have received it to use it in doing good to our brothers and sisters who journey with us in life.
María Antonia París was born on June 28, 1813 in the town of Vallmoll of the Province of Tarragona in Spain. The day after her birth, June 29, Solemnity of St. Peter, she was baptized.
When she was 13 years old she participated in a mission given by a groups of Franciscan Missionaries, and since than she began to experience the call to the religious life.
When she was 28 years old in 1841 she entered the convent of the Sisters of the Company of Mary in Tarragona.
In 1842, one night as she was praying before a Crucifix for the Church that was being persecuted in Spain, the Lord from the cross gave her a religious experience in which she understood that what was wrong with the Church was not the persecution, but her unfaithfulness to the Gospel. She also understood that the Lord wanted her to start a new religious order which had to be new in practice not in doctrine.
In 1851 she left the convent with another novice, to be able to start the New Order. She met St. Anthony Mary Claret who was a missionary in Catalonia and in the Canary Isles, and he assured her that he would help her in the foundation of the New Order . Some months after this meeting Claret was consecrated bishop of Santiago de Cuba and went to Cuba.
Three other young women joined Antonia and her companion. In 1852 Claret called the five of them to Cuba to help him with the evangelization, especially with the education of the girls and young women. After many months of waiting Claret signed the document of the foundation of the New Order, the Claretian Sisters, whose official name is Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, on August 25, 1855. Two days later on August 27, 1855 Claret received the vows of María Antonia. The New Order was founded.
In 1859 María Antonia went back to Spain to establish there several communities: Tremp, Reus, Carcagente and Vélez-Rubio. On January 17, 1885 María Antonia París died in the community of Reus.
The Claretian Sisters we continue the mission started by her. We have many communities in each one of the 4 continents: Europe, America, Asia and Africa. We continue to live according to the Gospel and to proclaim it, and in so doing we contribute to the renewal of the Church.
ST. ANTHONY MARY CLARET AND MARIA ANTONIA PARIS
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