ü The prophet Jeremiah confesses that he cannot stop
saying what God reveals to him, it is like a fire in his bones that impulses
him to continue speaking.
ü Jesus says that whoever wants to follow him has to
deny him or herself.
ü Paul invites us to offer ourselves as a living and
holy sacrifice pleasing to God.
FIRST READING Jer 20:7-9
v
This
Reading is taken from the last section called “confessions of Jeremiah” which
begin on chapter 10.
v
Through
this chapters we find what has been called “confessions” which are texts that
reveal a unique intimacy of Jeremiah with God. All these texts are especially
beautiful and show to us the portrait of a man in love with God.
v
You
have seduced me… these are strong words which reveal the inner struggle of a
man completely in love with God and at the same time tired to suffer for the
cause of the Word which becomes fire inside of him.
v
You
were stronger than me so you overcome me, this is a very strong image which
describes very well what happens when a man seduces a woman. Jeremiah says that
this is what has happened to him in relation to God.
v
The
complain of Jeremiah is that since that seduction he has to speak in the name
of God who reveals to him the sufferings which his people will experienced due
to their unfaithfulness.
v
Jeremiah
says that he has taken the decisión neither
to speak anymore in the name of God nor to listen anymore.
v
But
what happens?
v
The
Word becomes fire inside of him and he has to give it, pronounce it, utter it
because he cannot resist the suffering caused by his keeping the Word for
himself, he has to share it.
v
What
a wonderful image of the love of the Word, of the power of seduction that the
Word has.
v
Have
we allowed ourselves to be seduced as Jeremiah was? Is the Word of God a fire
which consumes our most inner being.
v
If
this is not so yet, let us ask God, let us ask Jesus that his Word may become
fire that consume us so that we may be able to put in fire of his love the whole world.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 63: 2,
3-4,
5-6, 8-9.
MY SOUL IS THIRSTING FOR YOU, O LORD MY
GOD
O God you are my
God whom I seek
For you my flesh
pines and my soul thirsts
Like the earth,
parched lifeless and without water
So have I gazed
toward you in the sanctuary
To see your power
and your glory
For your kindness
is a greater good than life
My lips shall
glorify you.
Thus will I bless
you while I live
Lifting up my
hands, I will call upon your name
As with the riches
of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied
And with exultant
lips my mouth shall praise you.
You are my help,
And in the shadow
of your wings I shout for joy
My soul clings
fast to you
Your right hand
upholds me.
ü This psalm shows an intimacy similar to the first
Reading.
ü You are my God, I seek you, I adhere myself to you, I
raise my hands to you...
ü God is everything for the psalmist who says his
longing for God, his attraction towards God.
GOSPEL Mt 16:21-27
v
After Peter’s
confession, “You are the Christ, the Messiah” which we read last Sunday, Jesus
begins to teach the apostles what does it mean that he is the Christ.
v
To be the Christ,
the faithfulness to his mission will entail sufferings for Jesus, persecution,
humiliation and death.
v
But death will
not be the end, because he will rise again on the third day.
v What does it mean that he will rise again? What does
he want to tell us? We do not understand…
v
Peter, the man
who is the closest friend of Jesus, whom he loves with his entire being, Peter
always impulsive speaks again, but now he does not repeat the words which the
Father has told him, but his own words.
v God forbid, Lord! How
can this be true? It is impossible, you are the Christ, do you not remember?
And the Christ cannot neither suffer, nor be defeated.
v
Peter you think
as a man, Jesus is inviting them, inviting all of us, to see the events of our
life, of history with the eyes of the Father who knows what is good for
us.
v
The answer of
Jesus is harsh “go behind me Satan” what did Peter feel when he Heard these
words of Jesus calling him the tempter, the seducer.
v Did Peter with his words have the power to be a
temptation for Jesus? This is a mystery which goes beyond our understanding
v
Maybe Jesus was
experiencing something similar to what Jeremiah experienced? I
will not speak anymore about you, but I could not, your word is fire inside of
me. Maybe the words of Peter were echo of the temptation in the desert: you can
be a Messiah in an easier way and at the same time more spectacular, you will
see how everyone follows you… transform the stones into bread… throw yourself
down from the Temple… kneel before me
v
Why does Jesus
say to Peter “get behind me” which has the same meaning as go after me? Because
who goes first is the teacher, the disciple follows the teacher.
v
And Jesus gives
teaches them a lesson, the great revelation
o
Whoever wants to come
after me, get behind me
§ Must deny himself or
herself
§
Take his or her
cross, his or her own life
o
And come after
me, why?
§
For whoever
wishes to save his or her life will lose
it
§
But whoever loses
his or her life for my sake will find it.
§
What profit would
there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his or her life
§
O what can one
give in Exchange for his life?
v
This Gospel puts
in front of us the fundamental question of our life, the following of Jesus we
have been called to, even before we had been conceived, and which has become
visible and public at our baptism.
v
In our baptism we
were submerged into the death and resurrection of Jesus to be other Christs,
and thus continue in the world his mission to seek the brothers and sisters who
has gone astray.
v
The Gospel ends
with these words of Jesus: the Son of Man will come at the end of time, he will
not come in poverty and humility as in the first coming, but he will come in
the glory of the Father, which is also his glory, and he will give to each one
what is due.
v
Come Lord Jesus
and you who are the way, walk with us so that when you come at the end of
times, you will say to us the so long expected words “come you blessed from my
Father, because you loved me in each one of your brothers and sisters in need
who you met on the journey of your life.”
SECOND
READING Rom 12:1-2
Paul exhorts us
to offer ourselves, our bodies, our own being to God as an aceptable and holy
offering.
IN the day of our
baptism we were anointed “priest, prophet and king.” Our priestly being enables
us to offer sacrifices to God, and our sacrifice is our own life “your bodies”
What a
consolation and what enthusiasm these words awaken in us, knowing that our
life, simple, sometimes broken, hidden from the eyes of the great public, this
my life can be an offering pleasing to God, if I offer it with simplicity and humility.
My life becomes
then a worship of adoration to God.
Yes, my life as a
husband or as a wife, as son or daughter, as an older person or as a Young
person… My life has the possibility to be an offering of adoration to my God.
Paul continues
and invites us not to conformed our mind to the mind of the word of sin, the
world that lives far from God and of the good of others.
Let us allow the
Lord to transform ourselves, by the renewal of our mind, our way to look at
life, allow the Spirit of Jesus to enkindle in us the fire of the Spirit, so
that we may know what is good and pleasing to God our Father, to Jesus our
brother and to the Spirit, our teacher. 
After we reached the port in
less than an hour, all the city knew already the news that “Rosalia” had
entered. Everybody considered it lost by fatal information spread everywhere.
(I do not know how it could be known because, since the day when the water
started to enter, God our Lord who made himself our helper, did not permit us
to meet any other ship so that nobody could get us out of the peril but his
omnipotent hand). Then, it was said that some of the passengers were nuns, and
God moved a very devout lady to pity so intensely that in that very moment sent
her husband to offer us their whole house and personnel. Being unable to
disembark in this port because of the storm, this good gentleman sent a
recommendation letter through boats, which look like a horse over the foams of
that stormy sea (it also brought provision of foods) this letter was address to
a friend of his Lanzarote – where it was so suppose d would land and he told
him to do for us all what he would do for his own family. This friend fulfilled
it so delicately that it was necessary to put an end to his excesses. Venerable Maria Antonia Paris, Foundress of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters, 153
I remained in the capital, where I inaugurated the pastoral visitation,
starting in the cathedral and then going through the parishes. Every day administered the Sacrament of
Confirmation. There were a great many to be confirmed, and so, to avoid
confusion, I had some forms printed and distributed the right quantity of them
to the rectories the day before confirmations. These forms were then filled in
with such data as the names of those to be confirmed, their parents, and their
sponsors. This helped avoid confusion and crowding and made it easier to record
the data later with greater accuracy and leisure. I always followed this
procedure, and it worked quite well with all those I confirmed – and that came
to no less than 300,000 persons during my stay of six years and two months on
the island. Beside the visitation and confirmations, I preached on
all Sundays and holy days of obligation. I never failed to preach, no matter
what part of the diocese I happened to be in at the time. Toward the beginning of June I left the city
and went to Caney, to conclude the mission that Father Stephen and Father
Curríus had started and were very successfully carrying on. After confirming
everyone, I preached the closing service of the mission. Saint
Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography
515-516
CLARET, Antonio María Claret, Autobiografía.
PAGOLA, José A. El camino abierto
por Jesús. PPC 2012
PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiografía
STOCK, Klemens. La Liturgia de la Palabra. Ciclo A (Mateo) 2007
LA BIBLIA, traducción tomada de la página web del Vaticano.
LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. Texto de Luis Alonso Schökel.
