XXXI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  –CYCLE A – 2017

ü  Two Sundays ago the Lord said that we have to give to Cesar what is his, the coin with his face and inscription, but we have to give back to God his image, which is each one of us. We belong to Him.  

ü  Last week Jesus said that the love of neighbor is a commandment of equal importance than the first commandment “to love God…”  

ü  Today the Lord invites us, he urges us that our works agree with our words, he wants us to be sincere and honest about our responsibilities.   

Prophet Malachi

·         The book is the echo of the situation of Judah and Jerusalem in the Persian era, around 450 B.C.  

·         The situation looks seemingly normal in relation to society in general.   

·         The main interest of this book is the “worship” 

·         Malachi recriminates the priests who are negligent and cynical in the service of the Lord. 

·         He does not forget either about the fundamental requirement of Israel’s faith: justice. 

FIRST READING      Mal 1:14–2, 2. 8-10

Ø  The Lord introduces himself as the sovereign king whose name is fearsome among the nations, among those who do not belong to the people of God.   

Ø  And He gives some warnings to the priests:  

o   They have strayed from the road of righteousness

o    They have been the cause for others to stumble, because they wanted to imitate them.  

o    The consequences of this is that the priests were not respected by the people.   

Ø  And the prophet asks a question that  we still continue to ask    

o    Is it not God our Father and Creator of all?  

o    Do we imagine that God has preferences as we do?   

o    Or does God has a double standard, one for those he loves and another for those he does not love, but we say that God loves all of us equally. 

o    Why do we desecrate the covenant betraying one another among brethren?

Ø  This Gospel   deeply challenges our behavior: if all of us are brothers and sisters:  

o    How come we destroy one another? Not only with weapons, but with our words and our discriminations.  

o    How can we remain day after day insensitive to the cry of so many  human beings mistreated by hunger, by need,   things which are the consequence of  the selfishness of other human beings, our brothers and sisters ?      

Ø  Lord transform our heart, help us so that our works correspond to what we preach, teach and   believe. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM   -  Ps.  131: 1.2.3

R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.

Ø  This psalm is the prayer of

o   A humble heart, that does not want to be more that what he is  

o   Someone who feels secure in the arms of God like the baby in his/her mother’s arms.  

o   And the last verse invites Israel, and all of us to always trust in the Lord.    

GOSPEL – Mt 23:1-12

v  In this gospel Jesus denounces the dishonesty, the lack of transparency and sincerity in the works of the representatives of his Father before the people. 

v  He asks the people to obey what they teach because they teach the truth.  

v  But he says   not to do what they do  

o   They preach but do not practice what they preach.   

o   They put many demands on the life of others with the excuse that this is what God wants but they themselves do not do it. 

o   They do everything to be seen, and Jesus someplace else says that they already have their reward.   

o   They seek and love the places and the treatment of honor, but it will not be so among you says Jesus do not allow anyone to call you with titles which will distinguish you from the rest.     

o   And why, because all of you are brothers and sisters, thus do not allow anyone to call you teacher and do not call anyone father on earth, because there is only one Father in heaven.   

v  The one who humbles himself will be exalted, and the one who exalts himself will be humbled.   

v  I do not think that God has any problem when we call teacher or father an human being, as long as we know, believe and act recognizing that we are all brothers and sisters, that the knowledge or the responsibility that we might have inside or outside the church does not make us superior, but it makes of us servants of all.   

v  This truth about our equality is a source of peace and joy because we do not have to do anything to exceed others because, no matter what we do, the truth is always the same: all of us have been created and redeemed   and all occupy a place of preference in the heart of our Father.   .

v   I think that we need to ask the Lord every day the grace to really believe that we are all equal, so that the Lord does not have to say to us what he said to the Pharisees on this Gospel.                                                                                                                                                                 

SECOND READING   1 Thes 2: 7b-9, 13

v  Paul gives a description of his ministry which is a lesson about evangelization, ministry done with compassion and tenderness like a mother. 

v  Paul did not want only to  share the Gospel but also his own life, thus he has worked tirelessly in order not to be a burden to anyone.  

v  And he gives thanks because the community of Thessalonica received the message as coming from God and not as a message from Paul.  

   CLARETIAN CORNER

Ever since this vision I have loved very much evangelical poverty ( I loved her already very much before) because our Lord told me that Holy Poverty should be the foundation of this new Apostles, and for lack of this holy virtue all religious order has collapsed. Venerable Maria Antonia Paris, foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 11  

This idea of a lost eternity that began to move me so vividly at the tender age of five  and that has stayed with me ever since and that, God willing, I will never forget is the mainspring and goad of my zeal for the salvation of souls. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 15.