SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT – 2015

«  On the first Sunday of Lent we contemplated Jesus tempted, to help us to see his vulnerability as a member of the human race. 

«  In the second Sunday we are invited to contemplate his glory, his divine being.   

«  We need to meditate and contemplate both realities to able to follow the Lord unconditionally.    

FIRST READING  – Gen 22:1-2.9.10-13.15-18.

Ø   The cycle of Abraham ends with the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.  Frightening story which poses a great number of questions, probably because we read it literally, in a fundamentalist way. 

Ø  According to a commentator the biblical author uses a legend to give a message on the meaning of faith, on the value of life and that God is the God of life, and does not want human sacrifices. A legend which fits well with the behavior of Abraham.   

Ø  Another commentator thinks that Abraham in his process of learning to know God who has spoken to him, has called him and has made promises to him, wants to offer to God the best he has, even if this entails that the promises will not be able to be fulfilled, or God will provide.  

Ø  A third commentator says that the story is about a believer who discovers, through the tortuous way of the divine silence, the promise of a complete salvation. 

Ø  In the Old Testament God is portrayed in contradictory ways, sometimes with the tenderness of a parent and other times with great rigor. Sometimes God promises and later on asks to do something different.   

Ø  In truth it is not God who is ambivalent, but the faith of human being who in his/her process of maturing understands  God  better little by little.  This is what the writings of the different authors of the Old Testament reflect. The Bible is in truth the story about God who seeks the human being, and the slow and sometimes contradictory response of that same human being.     

Ø  Let us try to draw something from the great theological richness of this text, to nurture our faith.     

Ø  Abraham does not have Ishmael anymore because he has sent away the mother with the child. The warranty of having descendants rests now on Isaac. 

Ø  Abraham understands o believes that God calls him and he responds quickly “Here I am.” 

Ø  He thinks that God wants him to sacrifice his son that he gave to him. And he makes himself ready to fulfill God’s order.   

Ø  But this will entail that the promises will not be able to be fulfilled, there will be neither descendants nor land, nor promises. Everything will be over. 

Ø  Abraham will lose what is the support of his faith, and in the darkness of her heart he is ready to execute what he believes is the will of God, and thus he will become the father of all believers from all times, who will trust even without seeing, who will hope against hope.  

Ø  God stops the arm of Abraham. God condemns the sacrifice of children or of any other human being.  

Ø  Abraham, guided by God, does not sacrifice his son and instead he offers a goat

Ø  The people of Israel, influenced maybe by this account, understood that the first born belongs to God, and thus they recue him offering a sacrifice, the paschal lamb on the night of the Passover.  Like  Abraham who offered the sacrifice of a sheep in place of his son.  Remember also the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the parents offer   two turtle-doves and two pigeons as a ransom for the son.  

Ø  We are called to live our faith, our intimate relationship with God in every situation of our life, in the light and in the darkness when everything seems lost and we are alone facing the abyss. This is the    moment of unconditional love, of faith without seeing without light.  Truly it is the most shining moment of our life.    

Ø  Abraham understands that God does not want human sacrifices. The happiness he experiences when God stops his hand, seems to be reflected in the words “for having done this, for not having denied your only son to me… because you have obeyed…   

Ø  I transcribe beneath something I have read and which I find very interesting and clarifying. The author of the  book According to the Scriptures quotes from the book Temor y Temblor of the Danish philosopher  S. Kierkegaard  the following words:

“When the child has to be weaned, the mother dyes her breast with dark color. It would be cruel if the breast continued to be desirable when the child has to be weaned. Thus the child thinks that the breast has changed. But the mother has not changed at all, she continues to be the same, her eyes are filled with tenderness and love, precisely in the moment when she takes away  the child from her to help him or her grow.”    

Ø  There are two important points in Abraham’s story:  the faith of Abraham, the call to a trusting faith in Yahweh,  and the name of the mount “The Lord will provide” which continues to be a profession of unconditional faith in the God of the promises.   

Ø  Who is our Isaac? Are we willing to give it to the Lord? Even if this entails a radical change in our life? Or,  maybe it will require the acceptance of darkness that frightens us, because we think that in darkness we are without the Lord? but the truth is that he is always there.     

SALMO RESPONSORIAL 116,10.15.16-17.18-19

I WILL WALK BEFORE THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING

I believed even when I said

I am greatly afflicted

Precious in the eyes of the Lord

Is the death of his faithful ones 

O Lord, I am your servant

The son of your handmaid

You have loosed my bonds

To you will I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving

And I will call upon the name of the Lord.  

My vows to the Lord I will pay

In the presence of all his people

In the courts of the house of the Lord

In your midst, O Jerusalem! 

ü  The words of the first stanza might  reflect the feelings that filled the heart of Abraham when he thought that God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac. 

ü  In the second stanza, the author declares himself the servant of the Lord who has loosen his bonds. Yes the Lord broke the chains, freed Abraham from anguish, when he revealed to him that he was not asking for the life of his son.  

ü  His reacts with joy and thanksgiving “I will offer to you a sacrifice of praise, I will invoke your name.”   

ü  Thus he will sing, he will be faithful and trustful in the Lord in the midst of the faith community. 

GOSPEL OF MARK  9:2-10

Ø  Six days after the first announcement of his passion, Jesus is transfigured in the presence of his disciples, as a announcement of his glorious resurrection. 

Ø  The two magnificent pictures that today’s liturgy offers to us happened on a mountain. In the first narration from the Old Testament it is Mount Moriah which the tradition identifies symbolically with mount Zion where the temple of Jerusalem was built.   

Ø  Moses represents the LAW and Eliah the PROPHETS (The Hebrew  Scriptures are organized into two sections the Law and the Prophets). 

Ø  Jesus takes with him to the mountain Peter, James and John, they will also be with him during his agony in the garden, during his defeat and vulnerability like every other human being. These men will be able to testify to Jesus man and God.  

Ø  Peter, as usual speaks in the name of the other disciples. How good it is to be here Lord! To be in the glory without passing through the darkness of faith, the cross, the desolation. Peter does not want that Jesus go back to where they came from, it is better to stay here, we will build the necessary tents.  

Ø  Again the voice from heaven is Heard “This is my  beloved son, listen to him

Ø  In two different occasions the Father tells us that Jesus is his beloved son. Moments when we are reminded of the glory of this son, who in the daily life is not noticed and he is considered as a simple and poor man. These occasions are: his baptism and his transfiguration.   

Ø  The cloud reminds to us the cloud that covered the meeting tent in the desert. The cloud which is the symbol of the presence of God. From the cloud the voice is heard, the disciples are frightened.  

Ø  But when they lift up their eyes, they see only Jesus.      

Ø  He tells them, do not say what has happened to anyone. Why? Because they will not understand until the resurrection, then you will say it, now is not the time. 

Ø  Like the disciples, we also wish to be in the glory, in the joy without passing through the darkness of faith, through the difficult way in the following of the Lord who goes to the cross.   

SECOND READING FROM THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS 8,31-34

      With this hymn to the love of God, Paul ends the central section of his letter.   

      The dark faith of Abraham, in his journey to Mount Moriah, the place of his son’s sacrifice, the sacrifice of all his hopes, is the trusting faith of this hymn.  

o   Who will be against us? Who will accuse us? Who will condemn us? 

o   If God is with us nothing and nobody can harm us.  

      This is the security of the believer, even if everything around him or her shout something different. Nothing and nobody will separate us form the unconditional love of God in Christ Jesus.  

BIBLIOGRAPHYGUILLÉN TORRALBA, Juan, “Génesis” en Comentario al Antiguo Testamento I. La Casa de la Biblia, Estella Navarra, 1997.

• LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO, comentarios de Luis Alonso Schökel. Misioneros Claretianos, 2010.
• LOZANO, Juan Manuel, Escritos María Antonia París, Estudio crítico, “El Misionero Apostólico”.   Barcelona 1985.
• RAVASI, GIANFRANCO. Según las Escrituras.  Doble Comentario de las lecturas del domingo. Año B.  San Pablo, Bogotá,Colombia 2005.
• VIÑAS, José María cmf y BERMEJO, Jesús, cmf.  “Autobiografía ” de San Antonio María Claret.

 

CLARETIAN CORNER

God was preparing me with so many troubles to receive the great, the indescribable joy which had to flood my soul with the arrival of the Bull from Rome on July 16, 1855, as rapidly as I was expecting and I had told the Archbishop every time he presented me so many difficulties.

            The fights and quarrels, tears and sighs that the foundation of this first house is costing me. Only God, who is pleased with the sighs of a heart distressed for his love, knows them.

When the Royal permission came from Madrid, the Archbishop and the procurator saw the mistake that they despised before as the advice of- in their opinion – an ignorant and hallucinated woman.

The procurator came to read the Royal permission to me in the parlor and, without paying attention to the laws, he fixed the day for my profession, but I, without contradicting him was laughing  inside, because even though I am unlearned, God had told me  already how they had to proceed in these things and I was sure that my profession depended on or had to come from Rome, but this, in the opinion of the procurator , was a heresy. (María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 202-204) 

With the help of the Vicar General I got rid of many grave abuses in chaplaincies. I saw to it that those chaplaincies I could dispose of were awarded to native sons of good character who were resident seminarians and showed some expectations of eventually becoming good pastors.

I increased the number of parishes and saw to it that pastors taught Christian doctrine and either preached or read to the people every Sunday.

I established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and, from the very outset of my stay in Cuba, insisted that seminarians be sent about to all the churches of the diocese to teach Christian doctrine. Every Sunday we had a children's procession, which used to stop in the courtyard of the church, where two tables had been set up, facing each other. A child would get up on each of these tables and in their clear, high voices ask each other their catechism questions. The first two would be followed by two others, and so on. The people who crowded around just for the novelty of it would also learn some sorely needed Christian doctrine in the process.

I also established a convent of nuns dedicated to teaching girls, and I bought them a house that cost me about 12,000 duross. (Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 558-561)

VI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 2015

 

«  Jesus continues his ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom, healing all sorts of sicknesses. 

«  Today Jesus makes clean a leper. 

«  Paul invites us to imitate him, because he is imitating Christ.   

BOOK OF THE LEVITICUS     

Ø  This third book of the Pentateuch, is called in Hebrew   Wayyiqrā’ = “and He called.”

Ø  The name Leviticus comes from the Latin translation of the Greek translation of the Bible in times of the Old Testament   “Leuitikon.”

Ø  The name is well given since it is a book about liturgical laws for the priesthood of the Levites.  

Ø  Besides these laws there are other laws in regards to the holiness of life, in all its different aspects: physical, psychological and moral. 

Ø  THE AUTHOR  – THE BOOK  

o   As it is the case for all the books, it is difficult, imposible to know  who  the author is. The book was being formed over several centuries with the contribution of many hands. 

o   It belongs to the “priestly” tradition.   

o   The legislation points out to  Moses.   

o   Although we find in this book some ancient laws, in its present shape the book belongs to the time of the return from the Babylonian exile.   

o   The book has the following parts:    

I           THE LAW OF SACRIFICE   

II          THE PRIESTLY ORDINATIONS  

III         THE LEGAL PURIFICATIONS  

IV         THE FEAST OF THE ATTONEMENT    

V          THE CODE OF SANCTITY.    

FIRST READING  Lv 13:,1-2; 44-46

      Many skin diseases  were included under the name of “leprosy.”

      Leprosy was an infected skin disease that was permanent, it was not necessarilly the same disease we know now as leprosy.   

      Other skin diseases were temporary and able to be cured. 

      The leprosy, or all the infectious skin diseases, when declared so by the priest make the person impure due to his or her sickness, and unable to be among other people.    

      The consequences derived from leprosy were painful for the person. He or she had to walk with wasted clothes, having a bad look. As they walked from one place to another they had to keep saying “impure” so that nobody would approach them.   

      Let us think of the suffering not only physical, but especially and more psychological and spiritual.   How this sickness could also estrange the person from the relationship with God.  

      Let us remember that by that time they attributed everything to the will of God. What was good as a reward, and what was bad as a punishment.     

      In regards to sickness they always thought there was somehow a punishment for the sins.   Let us remember the book of Job, which we reflected on last Sunday

      In all this legislation we find a combination of hygiene rules and rules which distinguish between  sacred and  profane.  

      The leprosy with the lost of parts of the body, made the person not only contagious but also dangerous and unable to worship Yahweh.     

GOSPEL – MARK  1:40-45

ü  We continue reading from the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark.  

ü  Mark describes Jesus doing during only one day a tireless  apostolic activity 

ü  Probably not all these works were performed in one day, but Mark puts them together here to make his community understand how Jesus was pressed by the need to proclaim the Kingdom of God.  

ü  Today a leper approaches Jesus and asks him to be cured.   

ü  Jesus say a few words and touches him, at once the man is cured from his leprosy.   

ü  Jesus touches an impure man, and that made him legally impure

ü  Jesus does not obey the  human laws that do not respect the dignity of the human person.    

ü  The Father through Jesus continues to touch our wounded, sick and impure human condition and heals us. He says through the words of Jesus “yes I do will, be made  clean”

ü  Jesus asks the man not to tell anything about the cure, but he must fulfill what the law prescribes.   

ü  Only doing what the law prescribes he will be able to return to the community.  

ü  Marks says at the end of this episodo, wich is also the end of the first chapter, that people were coming to him from everywhere.    

SECOND READING  1 Cor 10:31-11:1

• Paul speaks to his community about Christian freedom in respect to food.  
• Today’s reading follows the teaching about eating meat from animals sacrificed to the idols, either because they are used for meals, or because they are sold in the market.
• The Christian person may eat anything because he or she does not believe in idols, but if this behavior gives offense to others they have to avoid it. 
• We should always do what gives glory to God.    
• They should seek the good of all, not their own benefit, thus imitating what Paul does to cooperate in the salvation of his brothers and sisters.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY

FALEY, ROLAND J., T.O.R. “Leviticus” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey  1988.

FLOR SERRANO, GONZALO. “Salmos” en Comentario al Antiguo Testamento II, Casa de la Biblia, 1997.

LOZANO, Juan Manuel, Escritos María Antonia París, Estudio crítico, “El Misionero Apostólico”.   Barcelona 1985.   

VIÑAS, José María cmf y BERMEJO, Jesús, cmf.  “Autobiografía” de San Antonio María Claret en  San Antonio María Claret Autobiografia y Escritos Complementarios, edición bicentenario    Buenos Aires-Argentina 2008.

 CLARETIAN CORNER

The missionary must be always kind and be all to all but without losing his composure and religious circumspection. Beware that due to his carelessness the veneration and respect ought to be given to the priestly character that he is invested, be lost. Do not familiarize with anybody but be kind to everybody. During his travels he must speak little and meditate very much.  His lodging in the cities be in the hospital. Do not play jokes to his brothers or companions of travel much less to (strangers). Do not argue with anybody, (…) but yield to everybody. (María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, The Apostolic Missionary, 2.1-2.5)

During my stay in Viladrau all the sick of the town, as well as those who were brought there from other places, were cured. As word of this spread, in whatever town I went to, people would bring me a large number of sick persons suffering from all kinds of illness. There were so many sick and so many different illnesses, and I was so busy hearing confessions, that I didn't have time for prescribing physical remedies. I told the people, instead, that I would commend them to God, and in the meantime I would make the sign of the Cross over them, saying, "Super aegros manus imponent et bene habebunt.  After I did this, they said that they were cured. (Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 180.)

 

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 2015    

      The first Reading which  is taken from the Old Testament, and the Gospel both speak of the reality of suffering. Job looks at suffering from a negative perspective without hope, the Gospel shows Jesus healing and giving back hope to those who suffer.   

      The second reading is the continuation of the previous weeks’ readings. Paul offers the Gospel freely.

THE BOOK OF  JOB

Ø  It seems that in ancient times there exists a man with this name, but the book as such is like a parable that speaks to us about the mystery of human suffering, maybe the theme is wider, it is about retribution and the justice of God.   

Ø  The process of the composition of the book:  

o   At first it was a legend, written in prose, about a man called Job who suffered much. (Introduction and conclusion)  

o   Later on the main body of the book was added to these two parts: the dialogues with the Friends, written in poetry. This section raises a question  on retribution which is  revolutionary  for the faith of Israel. (3-31; 39-41)  

o   Another author, looking at this work which caused scandal for many,  added the monologue of Elihu (32-37)  

Ø  Theological Approach   

o   The author of the second or central part  of the book of Job, dares to question the untouchable belief of Israel on retribution. He who acts well is blessed by God and prospers; while the one who is not faithful, the sinner, is punished by God.   

o   Job seems to be a good and irreproachable man, but his sickness says something else, it says that he has sinned and does neither want to acknowledge it nor to confess it.   

o   The author through dialogues presents in a masterly way another alternative, it is not as easy as they believe.   

o   This same question is presented also in other books of the Old Testament, things do not always go well for the just, and the evil man is not always punished. Sometimes it even seems to be the opposite (Jer 31,29 y ss. Ez 18.)

o   In truth what the human being, represented by Job, questions is the justice of God. The justice of God not in itself but in the way it has been interpreted. 

Ø  What prompted the people of Israel to write this book?  

o   It seems that the people of Israel raised many questions about the love and justice of God, during their exile in Babylon, where they suffered much. 

o   On their return the prophets tried to support the faith of the people, that had more and more doubts about their situation and about their relationship with God.   

o   The book seems to reflect this crisis of faith, not only of the people in  general but also of the author him or herself. The book would be the result of years of struggle, questioning and prayer, until God makes himself to be known in the new way.  

o   Thus the date of the composition might be between the VI and V centuries before Christ.  

o   To read this book is to enter into a passionate experience.   

JOB IS THE MAN OR WOMAN , ANY MAN/WOMAN, WITH HIS OR HER TRAGEDY, SUFFERING, DESPAIR, DOUBTS AND UNSATISFIED DESIRE TO HAVE AN ENCOUNTER WITH GOD.   

 FIRST READING  Job 7:1-4;6-7.

«  This  reading is like a meditation of Job, on the meaning of his life. It is taken from the response of Job to his friend Eliphaz.    

«  Job responds  passionately, and says how he sees the human life.   

o   Human life is like a hard work   

o   Man is an anxious slave who seeks a shade to protect himself, or he is a worker who waits for his salary. 

o   It has been given to him a salary of sickness; months of suffering that do not allow him to rest night or day.  

o   His days go by without hope.    

o   He sees his life like the wind that passes by and does not come back. His happiness has been taken from him and will not be given back to him.   

o   We will have to wait until Jesus comes for us  men and women to discover another answer to this question of the human suffering. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM   Ps  147:1-2. 3-4. 5-6

PRAISE THE LORD, WHO HEALS THE BROKENHEARTED

 Praise the Lord, for he is good

Sing praise to our God, for he is gracious

It is fitting to praise him

The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem

The dispersed of Israel he gathers. 

He heals the brokenhearted

And binds up their wounds

He tells the number of the stars

He calls each by name 

Great is our Lord and mighty in power

To his wisdom there is no limit

The Lord sustains the lowly

The wicked he casts to the ground. 

ü  These verses are like a consoling answer to the suffering lament of Job, and of all of us when we are suffering. 

ü  God himself heals us and binds our wounds, like a mother takes care of her son or daughter and relieves his or her suffering.    

GOSPEL OF MARK 1: 29-39

ü  We continue our reading of the first chapter of Mark. This Gospel is very short but with a strong message conveyed in a simple and direct way. 

ü  This first chapter of Mark presents Jesus acting, talking very little but with a lot of deeds.  If we look more closely we will contemplate an extraordinary activity of Jesus, which Mark explains as happening in only one day. It seems that he wants to tell us that Jesus was tireless in the proclamation of the kingdom, today it is a proclamation through action

ü  This passage happens in Capharnaum, first in Simon’s house, than at the door of the same house and later on in a deserted place out of town.   

o   IN SIMON’S HOUSE  

§  Jesus leaves the synagogue, where we met him last Sunday, and goes to Simon’s home. 

§  He meets Simon’s mother-in-law who is sick. The four men whom we met last week and who are following Jesus now speak to him about her.   

§  Jesus does not say a word, he takes the woman by her hand and “raises her up.”  

§  The word “raises up” in Greek, the original language in which this Gospel was written, is the same word that Mark uses for the resurrection of Jesus.    

§  It seems that Mark wants to tell us that the healings that Jesus performs are signs of his resurrection, of new life. The mother-in-law is cured and she begins to wait on them.  

o   AT THE HOUSE DOOR

§  At evening they bring to him the sick and the possessed by evil spirits to be cured by him.   

§  And he heals them touching them. And Mark adds that Jesus forbid the evil spirits to speak of him, because they knew who he is.   

§  Mark will constantly repeat these same words “do not say it”. Some scholars explain this as “do not say it because now it will not be understood in the right way, we have to wait for the resurrection.” This technique of Mark is called the “Messianic Secret.”  

o   IN THE DESERTED PLACE AND IN ALL THE TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF GALILEE.  

§  At dawn Jesus went to a deserted place to pray. Some translations say “he was absorbed in prayer.”    

§  Those are Jesus’ precious moments of prayer,  that filled with enthusiasm his followers. Jesus submerges himself in a conversation and intimate relationship with his ABBA. Moments in which he experiences the tenderness, the warm and the safety of the Father’s  arms. 

§  Come, all are looking for you. Why and for what do we seek the Lord?   

§  Jesus says that they have to go to all the villages to proclaim the Good News. The Good  News have to be proclaimed by words and by healing actions  

o   THE MYSTERY OF HUMAN SUFFERING    

§  Job sees his life like a slavery whose salary is pain and eventually death.   There is no light speaking to him of hope in something better, in another life, in a new and risen life. 

§  The answer to this way of thinking of Job, the answer to the question that all of us have when we are faced with suffering, we will have it in Jesus.  

§  In Jesus, the Son of the Father, God looks into the darkness of our lives.   

·         The darkness of our sins, of our lack of mutual love. These are the evil spirits from which those who approach Jesus are liberated.. 

·         Darkness of our physical, psychological and spiritual pain. The Lord touches us, heals us and makes us partakers of his new risen life.  

·         The meaning of the question about human suffering will be given to us by Jesus in his passion. His suffering is redeeming , ours can become such.   

·         The Father is not indifferent to our suffering. In Jesus his beloved Son, the Father wants to enter into our reality and transform it from the inside.    

·         The suffering, when we are united with Jesus, even when it seems incomprehensible and we do not want it, is often a source of peace and joy. 

·         Human suffering is in some way the consequence of the human sin, which destroys us.    

SECOND READING – 1 Cor 9:16-19; 22-23

«  We continue reading from the first letter to the Corinthians.  

«  Paul speaks of his ministry, his mission to preach the Gospel.  

o   He has not chosen this mission, it has been entrusted to him, he has been asked to evangelize.  

o   Paul cries  out  “woe to me if I do not preach it”.   

o   Thus the proclamation of the gospel is not a cause for boasting.   

o   His recompense is found in the preaching itself, offered without cost.

«  Paul continues saying that he is not subject to anyone 

o   But in spite of this, he has made himself the slave of all, as to win over for Christ as many as possible.   

o   And thus he has made himself weak with the weak

o   He does everything for the sake of the Gospel with the hope to share in its blessings.   

«  How beautiful is this reflection of Paul, the great Paul whom we admire, feels himself little and needy in front of the beauty and greatness of the Gospel.  He does not own the Good News, it is not his good news, it is the good news that make present Christ Jesus in the heart of every man and woman,  in our society, our church, our families  

«  We may also exclaim “Woe to me if I do not proclaim the good news that I have received and that have changed my life!”   

 

CLARETIAN CORNER

 

 Turning to take the thread of the way of God has been forming this house of his, I said that on December 30, of the same year, 1853, we transferred to this house and on January 15 1854, nine postulants arrived from Spain to receive our holy habit that I handed on to them on the feast of the purification of the same year. These young ladies made me suffer much because almost all of them were inclined to comfort, little work, eat well and laughing, it seemed that they came to take a walk  and have a good time. One can imagine how much did it cost me to cultivate a little these very independent spirits, especially the majority of them and with the little help of an indulgent confessor. (María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian MIssionary Sisters, Autobiography, 199)  .

I established clergy conferences to meet three times a week in all towns of the diocese; one of them was on rubrics, the other two on moral theology. I always presided over those in the capital. The first conference each month was a day of retreat, consisting of reading, prayer, and a talk.

I undertook the restoration of the diocesan seminary. More then 30 years had passed without seeing the ordination of a single resident seminarian. At the beginning of their studies they all said they had a vocation and were educated at the seminary's expense; but toward the end of their studies they would say that they didn't want to be priests, after which they were graduated and became lawyers. And so it came about that Santiago had a swarm of lawyers, all fed and educated at the seminary's expense, while the few priests there were outsiders.  (Antonio María Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters  554-555). 

 BIBLIOGRAFÍA

LOBATO FERNÁNDEZ, Juan Francisco, “Job”, en Comentario al Antiguo Testamento II, Casa de la Biblia Salamanca-España 1997.

LOZANO, Juan Manuel, Escritos María Antonia París, Estudio crítico,   Barcelona 1985.

PÉREZ HERRERO, Francisco, “Evangelio según San Marcos”  en Comentario del Nuevo Testamento, Casa de la Biblia.  Salamanca-España1995.

RAVASI, Gianfranco,  Según las Escrituras-Año B,  San Pablo 2005.

VIÑAS, José María cmf y BERMEJO, Jesús, cmf.  “Autobiografía” de San Antonio María Claret en  San Antonio María Claret Autobiografia y Escritos Complementarios, edición bicentenario    Buenos Aires-Argentina 2008.