The Messiah we meet this week is the Messiah who is solidary
with those who suffer, are oppressed, and persecuted by the political dominant system.
FIRST READING : Wis 2:12.17-20
Ø In
the Septuagint, Greek translation
of the Hebrew Bible, this book is called Wisdom of Solomon, while
in the Latin edition of the Vulgata it is called Wisdom.
Ø We
do not know the author, to introduce him as Solomon is a fiction, based on the
Jewish biblical tradition that attributes to Solomon a superior wisdom,
considering him the prototype of the wise person.
Ø Although
we ignore the identity of the author, we may deduce from the book itself that
he was a profoundly religious Jew who was living in Alexandria.
Ø We perceive
in the book the author’s fidelity to his Jewish culture and at the same time
his openness to the dialogue with the surrounding culture.
SUNDAY’S READING
Ø The
impious talk and say that they want to eliminate the just man, because he
reproaches them their behavior. He is a reproach for them not by his words but
by his life, he is a continuous accusation of their evil action, which are in
contradiction with what they have been taught by their elders.
Ø They
want to see if what the just man says about being son of God is true. If God is
his father he will deliver him from their hands.
Ø Thus
they will mistreat him, torture him, and put him to a shameful death to destroy
his trust in God.
Ø These
words are like an echo of the Reading about the suffering Servant in the book
of Isaiah, which we read last Sunday. But the Servant continues to trust in God
and he summons his torturers to come forward and confront each other, because
the Just man knows that God is with him, even if it seems that he is alone in
his suffering.
Ø What
a beautiful image of faith! What appropriate! it is for our preparation before
beginning the Year of Faith which Benedict XVI invites us to celebrate.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM – Ps 54 THE
LORD UPHOLDS MY LIFE
The just man prays to
God in his suffering:
§ He
asks to be heard and helped
§
Because:
o
Men without God have risen against him
o
O God! You
are my helper, repay them according to their deeds.
o
O God! I thank you because you are good; you
have heard me and have delivered me.
He began his prayer
asking for help, at the end of his prayer he gives thanks to God for the help he
has received.
GOSPEL Mk 9:30-37
« Last
week we began the second part of Mark’s Gospel.
Jesus accepts Peter’s confession about him being the Christ, the
Messiah. After that confession Jesus
starts to teach his disciples about discipleship, and what does it mean that
He, Jesus, is the Messiah. To this end
he announces to them his death and his resurrection.
« Today
Jesus teaches his second lesson on discipleship, announcing again his death and
resurrection.
« They
do not understand the meaning of Jesus’ words, but they do not ask, instead
they talk among them without reaching the right answer.
« Jesus
hears them, he knows what they are discussing about. Since he wants to teach
them a very important lesson, he first asks them about their conversation on
the way, so they will be part of the
teaching Jesus wants to give to them.
« They
remain silent because they know that the Teacher does not want honors either for him or for
them
« They
were discussing to find our WHO WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT AMONG THEM?
Jesus is going to teach a lesson that will puzzle
them again.
This lesson is going to be practical. Jesus
calls a child, puts him at the center of the circle of the apostles. To call a
child and pay attention to him is already a surprising action. A child in the
Jewish world as well as in the rest of the ancient cultures, was nobody, he was
not even considered to be a real person.
With kindness but firmly Jesus tells them that
in order to be the first one must make himself the last, and the servant of
all.
Afterwards putting his arms around the child
Jesus tells them that whoever receives someone like this child receives him. Who
is the one like the child? The poor, the beggar, the widow, the orphan, the marginalized.
These words remind us about the Gospel of Matthew: I was hungry, thirsty;
naked… you did it to me.
The last part of this lesson is awesome, who
welcomes Jesus, welcomes not Jesus but the Father.
Thank you Lord for this lesson. It will take a
while until we can understand and accept it, but we will try.
SECOND READING Js 3:16-4,3
James continues teaching the Christian values to
his community.
Where there is envy there is also disorder and
malice, sin.
o
True wisdom is: pure, peaceable, gentle
o
Leading to a true friendship with God and with
all humankind.
The person who sows peace, harvests justice.
James continues saying that the violence which
is found in the community comes from their evil desires.
The conclusion is that they ask but they do not
receive, because they ask for the wrong things, and thus with this frustration
violence increases. 
On a feast day of
St. Peter and St. Paul, after holy communion I went to the gallery, so as to be
able to talk alone with my God about the work He has entrusted me and the great
difficulties I saw in its execution. I did not dare to tell our Lord that it was
impossible for me, because I always had firm, by the grace of God, the
certitude of the power of God in his creatures. Venerable María Antonia
París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 35a
Meekness is one
sign of a vocation to be an apostolic missionary. When God sent Moses, he gave
him the grace and virtue of meekness. Jesus Christ was meekness itself, and
because of this virtue He is called the Lamb. The prophets foretold that He
would be so mild that He would neither break the bruised reed nor quench the
smoking flax; that he would be persecuted, calumniated, and
covered with reproaches and yet remain as one without a tongue and say nothing. What
patience and meekness! Yes, by his labors, his suffering, his silence and death
on the Cross, He redeemed us and taught us how we must act to save the souls He
has entrusted to us. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 373.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET, Antonio María. Autobiography.
PARIS, María Antonia. Autobiography.
RAVASI, GIANFRANCO. Según las
Escrituras – Año B. Traducido por Justiniano Beltrán. Bogotá 2005.
SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española.
SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. LA BIBLIA DE
NUESTRO PUEBLO. Misioneros Claretianos. China 2008.
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