Tuesday, July 29, 2014

XVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - AUGUST 3RD. 2014


ü  On our journey following Jesus our liturgy invites us to listen to the words of Jesus give them some food yourselves.    

ü  In the first reading God invites us to eat and drink without paying. It is an invitation to renew our covenant with our God.     

ü  And Paul in his letter to the Romans says that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God manifested in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

THE BOOK OF THE THIRD ISAIAH 
The first reading this week is taken from the last chapters of the book of Isaiah which is called the Third Isaiah. 

o   The book of the prophet Isaiah is composed of three different books, written by different authors and in different times very much apart from each other, and thus in different social scenarios. 

o   We do not know who the author or authors are, probably some other prophets with a similar theology to the theology of the First Isaiah also called Isaiah from Jerusalem (the first 39 chapters of the book) 

o   The Third Isaiah has the prophetic mission to keep the hope of the people alive. 

o   In this part of the book of Isaiah we discover tensions between the present situation and the future hope; between denouncing the crimes and the messages encouraging the people; the disappointment for the present situation and the messianic expectation; the openness to the foreigners and the condemnations. 

o   The theme of the exodus gives way to the future Jerusalem, the transfigured city in fulfillment of the promises.  

o   The Third Isaiah goes from chapter 56 to 66.   

FIRST READING   Is 55:1-3
Ø  God, through the voice of the prophet, invites all of us to go the  water. It is an invitation to those who cannot pay.  

Ø  It is also an invitation to eat wheat without cost.  

Ø  The prophet asks: why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy? 

Ø  Listen to me and you will eat well, listen and you will have life. 

Ø  I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the promises made to David.  

Ø  Our God invites all of us to receive food and drink without paying.  

o   Let us approach him and we will not go hungry, not only hunger for bread, but hunger for the bread of life, the bread of his word, the bread of an intimate relationship with Him. 

o   Yes, He can surely satisfy all the longings and desires of our heart. 

o   Everything is given to us without cost by the loving will of our Father God, we are only asked to listen=to obey; to come and seek= to ask for.

o   It is given without cost because his love cannot be paid, we cannot buy it.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Ps 145:8-9.15-16.17-18
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger and of great kindness
The Lord is good to all
And compassionate toward all his Works.  

The eyes of all look hopefully to you 
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.  

The Lord is just in all his ways  
and holy in all his works. 
The Lord is near to all who call upon him   
to all who call upon him in truth.  

·         The Lord is kind and compassionate, slow to anger. He takes care of his creation, the work of his love.  

·         Thus all, humans and all other creatures, turn their eyes toward him hoping to receive food “on due time,” 

·         Not only is he compassionate, but he is also just and kind.   

·         The Lord who is just makes us just when we welcome him with simplicity and humility. 

·         Paul in one of his letters says that everything turns out good for those who love God, and in this psalm the verse who follows after the fragment we will read during the liturgy says precisely the same God satisfies the desires of those who fear him=love him=seek him.  

GOSPEL  Mt 14:13-21
v  In the last three Sundays the Gospel of the Eucharistic Celebration was taken from Matthew’s chapter 13. In this chapter Matthew narrates some of the parables of Jesus about the Kingdom.  

v  Today we begin chapter 14 which begins telling us the death of John the Baptist, who had been beheaded by king Herod.  

v  The Gospel tells us that when Jesus heard about the fate of John the Baptist, he retired to a deserted place across the lake.    

v  When he disembarks the hungry crowd is waiting there to listen to his word.  

v  And Matthew tells us that Jesus was moved by compassion, compassion which is always the deepest and more frequent feeling of Jesus.  

v  Why is he moved by compassion?  Because  they  are sick and as sheep without guidance.  

v  In contrast with Jesus’ compassion, Jesus who has eyes to see the human suffering, has ears to listen to the silent cry of those suffering, his disciples look for the easy way, …so they can go and buy food for themselves   

v  But Jesus whose behavior is so many times challenging says to them …give them some food yourselves. 

v  How is that going to happen  in this deserted place, we only have  five loaves and two fish….  

v  Bring them to me… make them sit on the grass, and raising his eyes toward his Father    

o   He gives thanks

o   He breaks the bread

o   and  He distributes it to the crowd by means of his disciples.  

v  All ate and were satisfied and there were even leftovers????   

o   God has created the world, maybe it is more accurate to say that he begins the process of creating, I say it in the present tense  because creation is a continuous process 

o   And afterwards he involves us in this process   

o   Creation which entails also everything that is going on in the human heart, in the midst   of the human race, that is to say, in the process to become human. 

o   To accomplish this, our Father God awaits   for our cooperation.  

o   This is an exciting call, to be part of the transformation of creation, of society, and of each individual person.    

o   How thankful we have to be towards our God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  

o   The Gospels says that they not only ate, but they were satisfied.  

o   This is how the overflowing love of our God works.   

v  This Gospel is a strong call to acknowledge our responsibility in front of the worldwide situation of hunger and death. 

o   A call not to say as the disciples tell them to go….

o   But like Jesus who asks them to sit down and he distributes the food to them.  

o   As followers of Jesus we are called to do something, and not be satisfied just saying  poor people they die from hunger.  

o   Because our Father has put into this world enough resources for all, but some of us take more than what we should and thus steal from our brothers and sisters what is theirs.  

o   We need to awake! St. John Paul II said that the Lord our God will make our generation responsible of the hunger which our brothers and sisters suffer.   

o   We all cooperate in some way in this sin.    

SECOND READING   Rom 8:35.37-39

*       Paul asks himself what will separate us from the love of Christ?  

*      And gives the answer himself “nothing”  

*      He mentions some of the evils which hurt us: anguish, great suffering, persecution, hunger, nakedness, dangers, wars…    

*      And he keeps saying “nothing”  

*      Why does he say that?    

*      Because he is convinced that neither death nor life, neither the present nor the future, neither the worldly powers, nor height nor depth.. NO CREATURE 

*      Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus  

*      What consoling words are these!  

*      We can firmly say that, not because it is a nice imagination or desire, but because the Son of God has become one of us through his incarnation, and he has given up his life to rescue us from all that could separate us from Him.   

*      Again we repeat, how thankful we have to be to our God   

o   For the food=all our needs which are taken care by his love.  

o   Not only the material needs but also the spiritual ones.   


CLARETIAN CORNER  

 I was seeing our great need to pray to God unceasingly but, on the other hand, I did not dare to awaken my companions and the others as all of them were sleeping very calmly. This way I passed the whole night praying to God, in whom I had place all my trust  and asked him not to let us perish, at least for the sake  of those creatures that His Divine majesty had entrusted to me. And they, for love of Him had offered themselves with so much good will to cross the terrors of a stormy moment. But, O, infinite power of God! Who doubts that God in watching over all his creatures?  Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sister, Autobiography 145. 

We were all well and happy as we set sail from Barcelona for Cuba, but on reaching the Rock of Gibraltar we had to wait for a change of weather before we could pass through the straits. The sea got worse, and so the captain had to turn back to Malaga, where we had to wait three days for better weather. Meanwhile, some work was found for me and I preached 15 sermons in the cathedral, the seminary, schools and convents, etc
At last we set sail under fair skies for the Canary Islands, where we hoped to land and visit with my beloved islanders. They were looking forward to it and so were we, but the sea was so choppy that we couldn't dock there, much to our mutual regret.   Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 504-505 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET, Antonio María Claret, Autobiografía.
PAGOLA, José A.   El camino abierto por Jesús. PPC 2012
PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiografía  
LA BIBLIA, traducción tomada de la página web del Vaticano. 
SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española, Madrid 2012.