On
Ash Wednesday we have begun our Lenten Journey, walking with Jesus up to
Jerusalem.
In
his Gospel Luke tells us that Jesus resolutely determined to journey to
Jerusalem, the holy city.
Have
we begun our Lenten journey with the same enthusiasm, ready to give our
life to our Master for the good of our brothers and sisters?
Let
us see what does the Lord have to say to us in the readings for next
Sunday.
Since
Lent is one of the special seasons of the Church’s liturgy, the three readings
have a common theme.
I
have read the commentary on the readings, made by Gianfranco Ravassi, and I like the way he looks at them. For him
the three readings speak of the profession of faith, made in different ways.
I
have decided to use this point of view to make my own commentary.
FIRST
READING
Dt 26: 4-10.
Ø
In the Hebrew Bible this book is called “These
are the words…” because the book begins with this phrase.
Ø
In
the Greek translation it has been given the name Deuteronomy = second law.
Ø
The
book is completely oriented to the words that Moses addresses to his people on
the threshold of the promise land.
Ø
These
words of Moses are written in different literary genres: narrations, laws, counsels
and poetry having the LAW as a backdrop.
Ø
Chapter
26 is about the first fruits offered to God.
Ø
Moses
tells his people that whenever they go before the Lord to offer the first
fruits of their crops, they will say : My
father was a wandering Aramean…
Ø
These
are the first words of Israel’s profession of faith.
o
It
is the confession of their own origin wandering
Aramean…They went down to Egypt and
established themselves there, they increased in numbers.
o
As
a consequence to be so numerous they were oppressed by the Egyptians who made
them suffer
o
They
cried out to their God and he listened to them, taking them from the land of
slavery. He gave them freedom and led
them with strong hand and outstretch arm to the land where they are now.
Ø
With
these words the faithful Israelite confesses that God is great, that God
listens to the cry of the suffering and of the poor, and that God led them to
the Land.
Ø
He
confesses that God is a God who is near, who walks with us, who guides us.
Ø
Together
with the profession of faith, he will offer the first fruits of his crop. He is
no more a wandering Aramean, now he is an Israelite who inhabits the land, he
is not a nomad anymore. He does not go wandering with his animals, but he has
now settled in the Land, and thus offers the first fruits.
Ø
What
a beautiful profession of faith, short and at the same time so respectful, so full
of love and trust in the Lord his God.
SECOND READING Rm
10:8-13
«
Paul
invites the members of his community to believe in Jesus Christ, to profess
with the mouth, and to believe with the heart that Jesus is the Lord.
«
The
Israelite was invited to profess his faith in the Almighty God, YHWH, who had
freed them from slavery.
«
Paul
invites his community to profess their faith in Jesus as Lord and God, who
giving up his life on the cross has liberated us from the greatest slavery,
sin.
«
And
to profess this faith we do not need to be descendants of the wandering
Aramean, but all of us without distinction of race, color, nationality, genre
we are invited to make this profession of faith in Jesus dead and risen for the
liberation of all.
GOSPEL LK 4:1-13
Luke
introduces Jesus to us, the Jesus whom Paul invites us to believe in, the Jesus
who is tempted before beginning his mission, which will lead him to the cross
and resurrection, and that will be our
salvation.
After
his baptism Jesus goes away and allows himself to be guided by the Spirit into
the desert. The desert which will be the
place of the temptation, solitude, struggle and encounter face to face with God
and with himself.
Jesus,
after his baptism in the Jordan River, hears the voice of the Father saying: You are my beloved son; with you I am well
pleased.
Now
he is alone reflecting and meditating on the mission that the Father has for him, he is afraid like all
of us when we think that the mission God has for us will be difficult, and as a
consequence we will suffer rejection and scorn.
Surely
that the temptations that the evangelists narrate are a composition of the
temptations he suffered during his lifetime.
The
temptations as Luke describes them will always begin with the words or the
thought: If you are the son of God. As
if the temptation was oriented toward the nature of whom Jesus is.
o
I
do not believe that the temptation of the bread is only about bread, or food,
but it is the temptation to use his power for his own benefit not for the
service of others. Is it not one of our strongest temptations, to put ourselves
before anyone else?
o
Luke
changes the order of the temptations, and puts as the second temptation the one
about the kingdoms of the world. It is
the temptation to do what we are called to do but in our own way, in an easy
way. Why should Jesus have to suffer humiliation, scorn, rejection and death to
follow the will of the Father, if he can do the things in another way more
reasonable?
o
For
Luke the last temptation is the most dangerous, it happens in the Temple of Jerusalem. The greatest
temptation happens in the city of Jerusalem. This is
the temptation to provoke God, to manipulate God so that he will do what we
want, we will not do his will, but he will do our will. It is the temptation of making an idol of the
true God.
o
Through
all these temptations Jesus uses the words from Scripture to defeat the evil
spirit.
o
The
answer of Jesus to the temptations is his profession of faith, trust,
surrendering in the hands of God, his Abba whom he loves unconditionally.
BIBLIOGRAFÍA
CLARET,
Antonio María. Autobiografía.
PARIS, María
Antonia. Autobiografía
RAVASI, Gianfranco. Según
las Escrituras – Ciclo C. San Pablo 2006.
SCHÖKEL , Luis Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.
SAGRADA BIBLIA, Versión Oficial de la Conferencia
Episcopal Española
One night I saw (I think it was in dreams)
a very beautiful in the sky, composed of very resplendent stars that I couldn’t
explain its attractiveness and beauty, what a charm! With that splendor it was
radiating! How many things I saw in it!
But at the moment I saw it formed, its arms were destroyed with only the pole
intact, the stars with the same beauty. It lost only the shape of a cross,
which, according to my vision, was the most precious to see.
It
was revealed to me that that cross symbolized this holy order and that its sons
would shine as stars; that I saw it in the form of a cross because they have to
preach the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ since the time is ending and the
guiding sign of the cross of Christ will go ahead. And I understood other
things that I cannot explain. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress
of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography
64-65.
Whenever I did eat what was set before me, I always took very little and
the poorest that was offered. If I arrived at a rectory at an inconvenient
hour, I asked the cook for a little soup and an egg--nothing more. For I never
ate meat then and I still don't. Not that I wouldn't like it, but I know that
abstaining from it is very edifying. The same goes for wine. Of course I like
wine, but I haven't taken any for years, outside of the ablutions at Mass. I
never drink spirits or liquor, either, although I like them and have tasted
them in the past. I have come to know that abstaining from food and drink is
very edifying and is much needed to counteract the sad excesses that take place
at table nowadays. St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary
Sisters. Aubiography 405.
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