CHRIST THE KING  SUNDAY – CYCLE A – 2017 

• This Sunday   we honor Jesus  King of the universe.   
• The liturgical year began with the baptism of Jesus and it ends with the celebration of Jesus Christ King of the Universe.         
• The young carpenter from Nazareth went to the Jordan River together with other men to be baptized by John, and after that he begins to preach in a way that is considered dangerous to the religious and civil authorities of his nation.    
• This young man hears the voice of the Father saying “This is my beloved son…”   
• This young man after his death and resurrection is made Lord of the living and the dead.    
• He is the eternal Son of the Father, the Second Person of the Trinity, the creating Word of God, by whom everything has been made.  

The solemnity of Christ the King is a liturgical celebration quite recent. It was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in response to the totalitarian and atheistic governments that denied the rights of God and of the Church.    Many martyrs of this epoch and also afterwards went to death shouting the profession of faith “Long live Jesus Christ the King.”  

Even if it is true that the celebration is quite recent, not so de meaning which was born with Christianity itself, because “Christ is King” is the same as “Jesus is Lord” which was the central phrase of the apostolic preaching. 

For more information on the meaning of this Sunday go to the Catechism of the Catholic Church 671. 

FIRST READING  - Ez 34: 11-12. 15-17

Ø  The mission of the king in Israel was to be the shepherd. 

Ø  David was a shepherd and became a king.   

Ø  The king had to take care of his people with the same dedication as the shepherd for each one of his sheep.    

Ø  Jesus, the incarnate Son of God has come into the world to gather the sheep that were scattered. 

Ø  To bring all the scattered due to different causes to a place of peace and calm.  

Ø  He seeks the one that is lost, each sheep has an infinite value and he seeks it even if it is only one.   

Ø  He cares for the sick, strengthens the weak, we know a lot about this, and how the Lord strengthens us in our weakness. 

Ø  He will graze them with justice.  

Ø  And he asks us to do the same; we are all called in some way to be like our Shepherd, to be shepherds of one another.   

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  - Ps  23: 1-2a. 2b-3. 5-6

R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

v  This is one of the most beautiful psalms in the Bible.   

v  It touches the deepest recesses of our being, its repetitions calms our heart, like the heart of the baby is calmed by the arms and the voice of the mother or the father

v  We recite this psalm very often at the funeral masses, moment when the person Is more in need of the kindness and security of God’s love.   

EVANGELIO  Mt 25: 31-46

·        In the liturgical year A the Church takes the Gospel of the Mass from ch.25 of St. Matthew.  

·        In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus is the Emmanuel, God-is-with-us.   

·        In this Gospel there are three moment that remind us that Jesus is the Emmanuel: at the beginning in the first chapter when Joseph is told that the baby that Mary carries is the Emmanuel, at the end Jesus says “I will be with you until the end of time.”

·        But, maybe some of us will ask “where is this Emmanuel, because I do not see him… I do not feel his presence…  

·        And Jesus will tell us in  the parable we will read this Sunday  

·        I am in   

o   Those who suffer hunger, thirst, who need clothing, housing, who are in jail, in the hospitals, who are lonely… and each one of us may add to this list.   

o   We may reflect and say   

·        Who are the hungry? Do they need bread? Water? Justice, Truth, Love?   

·        Who are in need of something? Do they only need clothing or house or maybe they need books, teachers, schools? Are they forbidden to enjoy the knowledge that all of us can?  

·        Who  are the prisoners? Only those in jail? Or maybe also those with some kind of addiction: drugs, food, drinking, tobacco, sex, power, money, vanity… are they maybe the women, men and children abused in the family who look at us begging for help?  are they the men and women filled with anger and violence?

·        Who are the sick? Are they sick with physical illnesses or maybe also they suffer in their souls, or they suffer from loneliness, abandonment, ridicule… who thirst for love but they do not receive it…? Here also we may enlarge this list with so many different sufferings.  

·        The Lord identifies himself with all of these, those we do not want to encounter because they demand from us and we do not want to be disturbed in our plans.  

·        Because it continues to be true that the Lord comes into our life as a thief in the night, without warning and he inconveniences us, changes our plans, and this happens not only in the final hour, but many times along our earthly life.  

·        It is our task to prepare ourselves to recognize him when he comes.  

 CLARETIAN CORNER 

 Let the missionary

pray with Christ, praying;

travel with Christ travelling;

eat with Christ eating;

drink, with Christ drinking;

sleep with Christ sleeping;

suffer with Christ suffering;

preach with Christ preaching;

rest with Christ tired

and live with Christ dying,

if he wants to enter into life with Christ reigning

To the greater glory of God and well-being of my soul.

Amen

 Venerable María Antonia París, foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate CLaretian Missionary Sisters, The Apostolic Missionary, 2.31.

I tell myself: A Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a man on fire with love, who spreads its flames wherever he goes. He desires mightily and strives by all means possible to set the whole world on fire with God's love. Nothing daunts him; he delights in privations, welcomes work, embraces sacrifices, smiles at slander, and rejoices in suffering. His only concern is how he can best follow Jesus Christ and imitate Him in working, suffering, and striving constantly and single-mindedly for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 494.   

BIBLIOGRAFÍA

CLARET, Saint Anthony Mary, Autobiography.

PARIS, Venerable María Antonia, Autobiography.

 

   
 

 

XXXIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE A –  2017

Ø  We continue with the themes proper of the end of life: vigilance and faithfulness.   

Ø  As the end of the liturgical year or year of the church is almost here, the liturgy offers these themes for our consideration.   

BOOK OF PROVERBS

Ø  This book calls our attention for his miscellaneous composition: there are poems more or less long, there are also lists of short proverbial sentences

Ø  We do not find in this book the biblical themes of the Old Testament.    

Ø  It contains pragmatic reflections and rules to help men and women to live a good life.    

Ø  This book is catalogued together with the books of Job, Sirach, Ecclesiastes and Wisdom as wisdom literature.   

Ø  Proverbs is the most secular of these books.    

FIRST READING : Prov 31:10-13. 19-20. 30-31

Ø  This   text from Proverbs is a hymn to the strong woman

Ø  This woman is a blessing and cause of happiness for her husband, not because of her external beauty but for her beauty and harmony as a person.    

Ø  This is a very beautiful text, as we read, it if we allow our imagination to picture the words we read, we see a woman busy all day long about her home and the care for her own who lack nothing, not even her servants lack anything.    

Ø  We all know women like this, usually they are simple women, who pass unnoticed, and we do not take time to look at them because they are so humble that they do nothing to call our attention.   

Ø  Women centered in the good of their family.    

Ø  Once I met a woman who lived in such poverty that you cannot even imagine, and I knew through her children that she ate once a day or every other day, because she first gave food to her children.   

Ø  Whenever we read this text I always think about her.     

Ø  The text says “blessed the man” yes, one thousand times blessed because he has a treasure in the companion of his life.   

RESPONSORIAL PSALM:    Ps. 128: 1-2. 3. 4-5

R. (cf. 1a) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

·         Blessed the man who fears the Lord.  

·         He will have work; this will make him happy because he will be able to feed his family.   

·         His wife in the midst of his home and his children around the table. This is the image of a peaceful home, a place that helps all who live under the same roof.   

·         And the psalmist adds that this is the blessing of the one who fears the Lord.    

·         In our society many persons who are honest and who fear the Lord do not enjoy the blessing of having a job due to the selfishness of some who organize society and the economy without taking into consideration the good of each human being, every human being is a spark of the divinity, and thus is entitle to respect and care. 

GOSPEL - Mt 25:14-15. 19-21

This Sunday we can chose between a long or a short version of the Gospel. For this commentary I have chosen the short one because it ends in a positive way. Since we are used to the other ending, maybe this change will call our attention and so it will help us better to reflect deeply on what Jesus really wants to say.   

Ø  The parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven  

Ø  Jesus has spoken in several occasions about the Kingdom of Heaven: it is like a banquet, like the virgins who accompany the bride, like the pearl, like the field, like the net…   

Ø  This parable tells us that there is  a man who goes on a voyage and leaves his reliable servants in charge of his goods which are represented by the talents.    

Ø  The talent is a coin, but it is also the ability to do something.   

Ø  And the text says that he gave to each one according to his own capacity.  

Ø  Let us think about talent as the skill I have, or how I am gifted for something. Each one of us has a different talent, and no one is better than the other. What God sees as good is the effort I put in using my talent.  

Ø  The master comes back after a long time   

Ø  And as he calls them to give an account of their administration, the first one who had received 5 talents  brings back 5 more talents he earned with the talents he had received.    

Ø  The master congratulates him and invites him to share in the joy of his Master.    

Ø  I think that this is a suggestive image of the Kingdom “to share the joy of the Lord, of our Father God. “

Ø  It seems to me that this is what Jesus wants to tell us about the Kingdom here and after.   

SECOND READING  1 Thes 5: 1-6

Ø  Paul and in general the Christians of the first century inherit from the Jewish apocalyptic literature some ideas on the “second coming of the Lord.”   

Ø  The description of the Old Testament theophany is wrapped with an apocalyptic attire and shows some recurrent themes: 

o   The coming of the Lord will be imminent    

o   It will come like a thief, suddenly  

o   Nobody knows either the time or the way    

o   When he comes he will judge    

Ø  Paul invites us not to pay attention to the details that is to the apocalyptic details which the text offers.   

Ø  But to live with a watchful waiting, like the lover who awaits for the beloved.   

Ø  The biblical commentary from which I have taken this explanation says that what the first Christian Communities wrote and spoke and believed of the coming of the Lord had been clarified by the Church over the centuries.   

Ø  This means that I cannot interpret the meaning by myself, neither accept the explanations given by our brothers and sisters from other Christian traditions or from the sects, but we must be attentive to what the Catholic Church teaches. 

CLARETIAN CORNER

 One night while praying and in bitter tears, pleading to our Lord that by the merits of His Passion and death to have mercy on the necessities of His church which at that time were many, our Lord told me and pointing at Mgr. Claret as if I saw him between our Lord and me.” This, my daughter, is the apostolic person whom you have asked me for so many years and with so much tears”.

His Divine Majesty showed me the grace He poured on that holy soul for the preaching of the gospel, and our Lord told me that there was no other remedy for the peace of the church. I did not know that person. Only a few days before I heard that a   certain chaplain by the name of Monsen Claret began preaching with much zeal about the honor due to God and the salvation of souls. It seems to me that have been at least eleven or twelve years ago. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 19.

 For my greater embarrassment I should like to quote the words of the author of the Book of Wisdom (8:19): "I was a boy of happy disposition. I had received a good soul as my lot." That is, I received a good nature or disposition from God, out of his sheer goodness

I remember that during the war of independence, which lasted from 1808 to 1814, the people of Sallent were so frightened of the French--and with good reason, since the French had burned the city of Manresa and the town of Calders, near Sallent that everyone fled when they heard the news that the French army was on its way. During the first evacuation I recollect being carried on someone's shoulders; but during the last evacuation, when I was four or five, I went on foot and gave grandfather Clara, my mother's father, a helping hand ^]. It was at night, and his eyesight was failing, and I guided him through the obstacles with such patience and kindness that the poor old man was very glad to see that I hadn't run off to join my brothers and cousins who had abandoned the two of us. I always showed him a great deal of affection until he died, and not only him but also all those who were elderly and disabled. St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 18-19.

 BIBLIOGRAFÍA

CLARET, SAN ANTONIO MARÍA. Autobiografía.

PARIS, VEN. MARÍA ANTONIA , Autobiografía

Sagrada Biblia, vesión oficial de la Conferencia de Obispos de España (Holy Bible, oficial edition of the Spanish  Conference of Bishops.)

 
 

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XXXII Sunday in Ordinary Time  – Cycle A – 2017

The readings speak of wisdom, a wisdom that helps us to live a life in vigilance, attentive to the successes and persons, seeking the meaning of the events.   

FIRST READING  – Wis  6:12-16

Ø  Wisdom is represented as a person  

o   The first two verses speak about something radiant, without corruption  

o   But in the other verses it seems to speak about a person: who wants to be found, who hastens to make herself known…   

o   He who watches for her at dawn will find her sitting at his door, this wisdom might also be God himself, who is always near us, waiting for us.  

o   Those who seek her in their thoughts will reach prudence and freedom.  

o   Wisdom is full of kindness and collaborates with our human projects.   

Ø  In this text we find the verbs to seek and to find.  

o   The human being seeks wisdom  

o   She (Wisdom) makes herself to be found…  

Ø  This text is of a great literary beauty and it projects a very attractive image.   

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM:  Ps. 62: 2. 3-4. 5-6. 7-8

R. (2b) 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.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus 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.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
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.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
I will remember you upon my couch,
and through the night-watches I will meditate on you:
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Ø  This psalm does not speak of that attractive character called wisdom, but  here the soul is thirsting for the living God.  

Ø  It is as thirsty as the soil when it has not rained for a long time.   

Ø  The psalmist seeks God, in the same way as the person in the first reading was seeking wisdom.  

Ø  The psalmist says that the love of God is more valuable than life itself.  

Ø  And his whole being joins in this praise: he raises his hands, and his lips sing with joy.  

GOSPEL    Mt 25: 1-13

Ø  Jesus has compared the Kingdom to a field, to a wedding feast, to a treasure…  

Ø  Today the Lord says that it is like, the 10 maids who accompanied the bride to the house of the bridegroom.    

Ø  Five of them lacked wisdom and the others were prudent, they allowed themselves to be guided by the wisdom the first reading speaks about.   

Ø  All did the same, they fell sleep waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom. 

Ø  The bridegroom here seems to be the main character and the most desired one. The maids will supplicate the bridegroom to allow them to be part of the celebration “Lord, Lord open the door for us?” 

Ø  When they got up on hearing that the bridegroom is near, they all have to trim their lamps. Five are oil besides the oil in the lamp, they can follow the bridegroom…   

Ø  The others do not have the oil for their lamps, so they cannot enter into wedding feast, which is the symbol of the kingdom. 

Ø  There is something strange in this parable, which makes us ask: what do you want to tell us, Lord?  You always urge us to help others and here you say, in some way, that it is ok not to share the oil. Why Lord?    

Ø  I have tried to understand this parable and I have sought to answer this question, because being a parable of Jesus it must have a message of kindness and truth. 

Ø  This oil may be the grace, the good works,  and we cannot give  any of these because it is not ours.  

Ø  The Gospel ends inviting us “To be prepared…” 

Ø  This means let us allow wisdom to lead us.    

SECOND READING:   1 Tes 4, 13-14

Paul says to the community of Thessalonica:  

Ø  He does not want them to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep  

Ø  Why? In order not to be sad like those who are without hope  

Ø  What is that hope?  

Ø  It comes from the faith that those who die in the Lord Jesus united with Him by faith and love, God the Father will take them with Him.    

Ø  Death continues to be something we are invited to accept in faith; if He has died and is risen, being united with Him we too will be raised after death.    

RINCON CLARETIANO

Since then our Lord has given me the grace to have him ever present, and to have very intimate communication with Hid Divine Majesty, especially with the Most Holy Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Blessed sacrament. There were so many tokens of love shown by our Lord to this miserable sinner that many times I was obliged to exclaim: “enough, Lord enough! You either widen my heart or put an end to these attentions of love. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 12.

If a son had a very kind father and saw that he was being maltreated for no reason at all, wouldn't the son defend the father? If the son saw that this good father was being led to execution, wouldn't he do all that he could to set him free? Well, then, what should I be doing for the honor of my Father, who is offended with such indifference and who, though innocent, is being led to Calvary to be, as St. Paul says, crucified anew by sin? Wouldn't it be a crime to remain silent? What would be the sense of not doing everything we could? My God, my Father! Help me to prevent all sins, or at least one sin, even if I should be cut to pieces in the attempt.Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 17

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, SAINT ANTHONY MARY. Autobiography

PARIS, VEN. MARÍA ANTONIA , Autobiography

WIKIPEDIA, Celebration of a Jewish Wedding