Monday, March 26, 2018


EASTER SUNDAY    2018
 Today is the great celebration of Easter. The liturgy overflows with alleluias, readings of life and resurrection, songs, hymns that invite us to rejoice, to experience the joy of the Lord. ALLELUIA, JESUS THE LORD IS RISEN!!!!  
During the Easter season all the readings are from the New Testament.    
 FIRST READING – Acts  10: 34a- 37-43
«  The reading is taken from the speech of Peter at Cornelius home.  
«  At the beginning of chapter 10 we are told that Cornelius was the centurion of the Italic cohort of the Roman troops stationed at Caesarea.   
«  Caesarea is a city mentioned several times in the Acts, it is a different city than Caesarea of Philippi where Peter made his profession of faith in Christ. The Caesarea mentioned in Acts is located on the Palestinian coast on the road that leads to Tire and Egypt.   
«  This was a key moment in the development of the Christian faith of the little community of disciples that are faced with diverse situations, which will help them to deepen and discover the true newness of the faith in Christ, the crucified and risen Teacher.  The baptism of Cornelius by Peter is the beginning of the admission of the non-Jewish peoples into the new born community of disciples.    
«   Luis Alonso Shoēkel makes a very interesting reflection on this 
o   He calls it the conversion not of Cornelius, but of Peter.    
o   Cornelius is open to the good news, to the Gospel and does not put any resistance; on the contrary he wants to know it.   
o   Peter, on his part, is struggling and searching for answers to the ongoing problem: what to do with the gentiles who want to be part of the new community of Jesus?   
o   Luke who is the author of Acts presents the two characters Cornelius and Peter praying.   
o   Cornelius is a Roman soldier, a pagan, but a man of prayer, compassionate toward the poor; we can say he was a good man.   
o   Peter is also praying, but, through his dream we discover the content of his prayer: what to do in the situation in which they find themselves.    
o   Jesus intervenes moving the threads of history. At the same hour 2 pm. both characters have a dream. Cornelius is told to call Peter and Peter is told to go to Cornelius home.  
«  Now  let us examine what Peter preaches  
o   He begins by remembering all that had happened in Judea since the baptism of John.   
o   Everything related to Jesus of Nazareth who was filled with the Spirit,  and who went about doing good.  
o   Peter and the rest of the apostles are witnesses of what he is proclaiming to them; nobody has told this to him. They have seen Jesus, they have heard him, and they have experienced his presence. Jesus is not an imagination, or a dream.  
o   Jesus was hung on a tree, but God raised him and after his resurrection he appeared to some witnesses chosen by the Father
o   These witnesses have the mission to preach and to testify about who is Jesus.   
«  What a wonderful synthesis which Peter  does of our Christian faith.  
RESPONSORIAL PSALM  – Ps.  118 

The Lord has done and continues to do wonderful things every day, but Easter is a very especial day, the day of days, the day of the new creation, the “eighth day”, the day of Jesus triumph over death, the day in which the doors of heaven are reopened, offering the possibility to enter into the intimacy of our God.   

THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD.

¡Alelluia!

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good   

For his mercy endures forever  

Let  the house of Israel say   

His mercy endures forever!   

THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD.

The right hand of the Lord has struck with power     

The right hand of the Lord is exalted   

I shall not die but live    

And declare the works of the Lord.     

THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD.

The stone which the builders rejected   

Has become the cornerstone    

By the Lord has this been done      

It is wonderful in our eyes. 

THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD.
SECOND READING   Col  3,1-4

Ø  The scholars do not agree about who is the author of this letter. There are reasons to say that the author is Paul, but also there are reasons to say that it was one of Paul’s disciples.    
Ø  If the author is Paul the letter was written in Ephesus at the end of the 50’s. If the author is one of Paul’s disciples then the date would be around the year 80.    
Ø  But let  us leave aside this discussion and enter into the message which this fragment of the letter gives to us.    
o   It is an invitation to live according to one who is raised with Christ. One who has been submerged in the death of Christ and in his resurrection.    
o   Our life is a new life guided by the values of Christ.    
o   This invitation to a new life is a logical consequence of having died with Christ and having been submerged in his new life.  
o   Christ is with his Father and he has taken us with him, in another place we are told that we are the body of Christ, thus where Jesus is we will also be if we remain in him.   
o   Christ is also in this world, as a consequence of his incarnation he cannot renounce to be one of us, even being glorified in the Father. And Jesus has come so that everything may be new.   
o   Thus those who are in him, we are called to have our feet firmly on this earth, in this world, in this society in order to transform it with our commitment and testimony.  
PASCHAL SEQUENCE –
The Paschal sequence is a very ancient and beautiful prayer that sings the resurrection of the Lord.   
We sing it before the Gospel  on Easter Sunday

Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer your thankful praises!

A Lamb the sheep redeems;
Christ, who only is sinless,
Reconciles sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.



 Speak, Mary, declaring
What you saw, wayfaring.
“The tomb of Christ, who is living,
The glory of Jesus’ resurrection;

bright angels attesting,
The shroud and napkin resting.
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;
to Galilee he goes before you.”

Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!
Amen. Alleluia.

Jesus is that victim, he is the offering made to the Father. The most beautiful offering which humankind has offered to the Father, the most beautiful fruit of the human race.  And Jesus is also and above all the most beautiful gift which the Father has given us.   

Jesus is the bridge between God and the human race; he is the only one who could do this union, this reconciliation, because he is human and divine at the same time.   In his body he unites us to the Father and seals with his blood the new and eternal covenant.   

Yes, death and life contended especially on the cross.  What a paradox, what an irony, we want to live no matter what. We invent all sorts of medicines and procedures to appear always young even in old age. We always feel that it is too soon for the Lord to call us, even being in our 90’s.    However when the true life, the life with capital “L” appears among us we eliminate it, because it is too dangerous, we do not trust. But life cannot be destroyed; it comes back again and again. Just look at nature.     

Mary tell us who have you seen in the morning?  Who has appear to you, has called you by name, because you could not recognize him now that he is risen unless he pronounced you name.   

I have seen the Lord; I have seen the one who is my joy, my all. I have seen Jesus alive again, but I could not recognize him until he called me by name.   The name he pronounced when he called you to live.  Lord call us  by name anew  as you did when you created us, as you did when you called us to follow you.    Call us a new so that we may recognize your voice in the midst of our worries, our failures, our joys and our successes.  Let us also abandon the tomb of our discouragements and pessimisms and let us see your presence in the present time, in the same way that you could discover the presence of the Father on that cross.    

Yes the Lord is risen, he is alive, he is among us because since the moment of his incarnation when he took our human nature he has become one of us and he cannot stop being so. Thank you Lord.  

Go to Galilee where everything started, where we met for the first time, where we became exited with Jesus’ project, the Kingdom, the Project to transform this world into the Kingdom of God, where God can be King and Lord of all.    Let  us go, let  us go back to our own Galilee, where we feel at home with him, let  us live again our first call, when we fell in love, when as, all those who fall in love, we saw nothing else than Jesus. We did not think about the difficulties, the oppositions, our only thoughts were his kingdom and Jesus himself.   Through the years he has given us more than enough proofs of his love, his care his listening to us.    

Jesus has conquered death for him and for us. We will rise on the last day, which last day? The Lord knows, we are sure of it because he is always faithful to his promises.  

Thank you Jesus, thank you for having been able to suffer all that you suffered  for our love, for my love. Grant us to be more aware every day of you unconditional love. Alleluia!!!   


GOSPEL MARK 16,1-7

*      The first day of the week, these words remind us of the first day of creation; with Jesus resurrection, the new creation has begun.  
*      Three women, Mark mentions the name of two of them. They were looking from afar to see where they had put him.   (15,47)
*      They go to anoint Him, because on Friday they could not do it since the day of rest was about to begin.   
*      They worry because the stone was very large. But on arriving they find it rolled back, and an angel who gave them a message from Jesus. 
*      Go to Galilee.   Shoēkel says: they should abandon their dreams about Judaism and go to Galilee to begin from there the universal mission. 
*      In Galilee is where Jesus began his mission, in Galilee Jesus encountered them and invited them to join  Him. 
*      Galilee is the place of the first encounter, full of memories of them with the Teacher. They have to go back to this first experience, to this first call, to this first love, before beginning  the great mission of proclaiming to the whole world, to the whole Roman Empire that JESUS IS LORD, that JESUS HAS DIED FOR OUR SALVATION       and that WE ARE ALL HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS and also among us.  
ALLELUIA LET US SING WITH JOY THAT JESUS IS LORD.  


 CLARETIAN CORNER  

Blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ forever!
He is pleased to send consolation in times of the greatest need of them!    
The love to your most holy will makes me surrender to any sacrifice.  
O, who could cry out to the whole world proclaiming how faithful you are to your friends!  
Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters
Jesus, I love you with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength.     
I would like to love you more and that
all love you too.  
I would like to love You for me and for all your creatures.  
Lord, as the water is mixed with the wine in the Eucharist, I want to be united with You and offer myself with you to the Most Holy Trinity.      
St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters.   





BIBLIOGRAPHY

 CLARET, Antonio María. Oraciones que se encuentran en sus escritos.

PAGOLA, José Antonio. El Camino abierto por JESUS, Juan 4.

 PARIS, María Antonia. Oraciones que se encuentran en sus escritos.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. Comentarios en la BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. Ediciones Mensajero. China 2010.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018


PALM SUNDAY – 2018 

Gospel  Mk 14: 1–15, 47

Ø  Mark gives us an introduction to the passion. 

Ø  He situates the event “the unleavened breads” and he tells us the decision of the religious and civil authorities of Israel: to arrest Jesus and kill him, but not during the Passover Feast. 

Ø  The death of Jesus, the true paschal lamb, will be during the Passover, He accomplishes the true and final liberation of humankind.  

Ø  Mark in his introduction narrates the act of love of that woman who will pour the nard perfume on the head of Jesus. 

Ø  Those who do not understand kindness, gratuity, complain “it could be sold …”

Ø  Judas Iscariot decides to hand him over to the priests.   

Ø  We have the stage ready for the   Passion.    

JESUS CELEBRATES THE JEWISH PASSOVER  

Ø  In this narration the scenes inside and outside alternate.  

Outside

Ø   The Apostles ask Jesus “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover supper?” 

Ø  Jesus responds telling them to follow a man they will encounter at the entrance of the city. The disciples go and do as they had been told, and get everything ready for the meal.     

Inside

Ø  Jesus arrives with the other apostles at sunset, time of the celebration of the memorial of the wonders God made for the Israelites on their departure from Egypt. 

Ø  Jesus says that one of them will betray him. They are surprised and sad and, one by one they ask him “Is it I Lord?   

Ø  Jesus answers without denouncing Judas who is present at the meal. And with great sorrow he exclaims: “woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born
!"   

Ø  And Jesus will transform this meal forever, with signs and words which will change the history of humankind forever.   

Ø  Jesus took  

o   The bread, pronounced the blessing, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: “Take and eat, this is my body.”    

o   And taking in his hands the cup of wine, he pronounced the thanksgiving, and gave it to all, they drank and he said “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is pour out for all.     

o   Jesus does sacramentally, with signs, what he will accomplish the following day on the cross: he will offer his life for all of us.  He will remain forever among us so that we will be able to give the true and only sacrifice to the Father.   

Ø  After singing the hymn, they leave and go to the Mount of Olives, but before Jesus tells them that all will abandon him, like the sheep that flee when the shepherd is wounded or killed.  

Ø  And he announces to them that once risen from the dead He will go ahead of them to Galilee. 

Ø  Peter cannot accept that they will betray him, he is not aware of his human weakness. But Jesus assures him that he will denial him three times before the cock crows twice. 

Outside

Ø  They go to the Garden; Jesus leaves most of the apostles at the entrance and goes further with James, John and Peter.   

Ø  Those are the same that were witnesses of his transfiguration.  

Ø  He separates from them and goes to pray to the Father. His prayer is filled with sadness, fear, suffering. The one who has fear is the Son of God, The creating Word, the Second Person of the Trinity, of God, God himself. He wanted to be with us, to suffer and rejoice like us, to be like us in everything but sin. 

Ø  Like us, he looks for the comfort from his friends, but he founds them asleep.   

Ø  Jesus asks the Father “if it is possible… Everything is possible for you… But, as he had said some days earlier He had come for this hour, to be faithful to the will of the Father, for the salvation of all, even if this cost him his life.     

Ø  He goes to his disciples a second time, they are still asleep, and He says to them, “you may continue sleeping…” Why does he say that” Because he has received the strength from the Father.  

Jesus y Judas

Ø  Judas comes leading a group of armed persons and kisses Jesus. What did you feel Judas giving a kiss of betrayal, kisses have another meaning.  

Ø  And Jesus surrender himself in the hands of those men, who do not know him and do not know how much he loves them, and that he is about to do the greatest sign of love for them.    

Ø  His apostles fled, only a young man follows the crowd that surrounds Jesus, Tradition says that this man was Mark the evangelist. 

Jesus and Peter  – Religious Trial

Ø  We have contemplated Jesus with one of his apostles: Judas  

Ø  Let us see now another of his apostles, Peter. We do not know whether Judas loves his Master, but we know from the Scriptures that Peter loved him, and was his friend. 

Ø  What had happened to you Peter?  

Ø  While Jesus is interrogated in the religious trial, Peter is outside, putting himself in danger.   

Ø  Jesus does  not answer the questions, only when he is asked about his identity he will speak. Are you de Messiah? He cannot be silent anymore, he has to say aloud who he is “Yes I am.” 

Ø  And he is condemned for telling the truth, for telling them that he is the Messiah that Israel has been waiting for centuries that he has come for our salvation, the salvation of all.   

Ø   Peter says that he does not know “that man”… and the cock crowed, Peter remembers the words of Jesus and cries.

Jesus and Pilate – The Political Trial   

Ø  The following day, Friday, they bring  Jesus before Pilate.   

Ø  Pilate  asks him: “are y ou the king of the Jews?” “Yes I am.”

Ø  But when Pilate asks him again, Jesus does not respond. What is the use to respond to someone who does not want to listen? 

Ø  Pilate is a coward, he is afraid of losing his position if he liberates Jesus, and follows what his fear dictates to him.

Ø  He makes the crowd choose between Jesus and Barabbas, how many times in human history has this situation been repeated…..   

Ø  Pilate pleases the crowd and hands Jesus over to the soldiers that torture him. 

Ø  When they finish torturing him, they put the cross on his shoulders and make him carry it to Mount Calvary, the place of the crucifixion.    

Ø  Since Jesus is so weak already, I they want to be able to crucify him, they force Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross. Simon is a worker who comes from the fields, he does not know Jesus, he does not care about him. 

Ø  In the film “The Passion” this scene is very well presented. Simon who is angry  I does not care about the suffering of that man, Jesus, little by little as he walks with him to the place of crucifixion he realizes that Jesus is an innocent and good man. Simon is transformed  and begins to love that person, he even defends him, he puts in danger his life.     

Ø   Jesus nailed to the cross, within the darkness of his sufferings, his fears, his loneliness, his abandonment thinks about the people he has helped during his life and he ponders, where are the lepers, the sick of all sorts, those who hunger, those who are abandoned…. None of them are here.

Ø  And where is the Father, I have done what I was sent to do, where are you? Why have you abandoned me?

Ø  And his mother cannot be close to the cross; she suffers with him in her heart and cries in silence.

Ø  Jesus gets  back his peace again, he feels again the presence of the Father who has never abandoned him, and Jesus surrenders himself in his Fathers hands.  

Ø   The way he dies, crying out, thing that a crucified person could not do because his lungs did not have enough air, makes de centurion realize that Jesus was more than man. “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

Ø  The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. It is not needed anymore; Jesus is the temple and the sanctuary. Now what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman begins to be real, “to adore the Father in spirit and truth.” We will not seek the Lord in special places, in sacred places, because after the incarnation and the death and resurrection of Jesus the whole creation is sacred, it has been redeemed by the Son, the Creating Word of God.   

Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him
the name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

 CLARETIAN CORNER

At this moment I saw our Lord Jesus Christ, I had him present in very special way. He had so much pain for the evil of the church, that it seemed as if his Divine eyes were bursting into tears, and told me sorrowfully: “look, my daughter, if with tears I would be able to renew the spirit of my church, I would shed tears of blood. Because I did not spare myself to shed all my blood for her creation, but I left myself as pledge and memory of my infinite love for her, for her conversion until the end of time.  Venerable Maria Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 9.   



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.   


Sunday, March 11, 2018


FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT  – 2018

It is the last Sunday of Lent, on the following  Sunday we will begin  Holy Week.  Let us review our Lenten journey:

*      We began with the contemplation of Jesus tempted in the desert after his baptism in the Jordan river, when he heard the voice of the Father saying “You are my beloved Son…”  

*      In awe, like the disciples who were witnesses of the transfiguration of the Lord, we learned that the beloved son who had been tempted in the desert is God incarnate who allows us to see his glory, and the Father repeats again the same words pronounced at Jesus’ baptism “This is my beloved… listen to him.”  

*      After that we began a series of three Sundays in which the liturgy helps us to contemplate three different themes:  

o   Jesus cleanses the Temple of his Father and says to us that he is the true temple, the true law.  

o   Jesus has to be lifted up on the cross so that whoever looks at him will be saved, like those who looked at the bronze serpent in the desert were cured from the bite of the snakes.  

o   Jesus grain of wheat that falls and dies to give us life, invites us to do the same, if we want to have eternal live and give it to others.   

Let us see what message do the readings bring to us today.   



FIRST READING  – Jer 31:31-34

Ø  Jeremiah is the prophet that was present at the fall of Jerusalem,  when the city fell under the power of the Babylonian empire, in 586 B.C  

Ø  Today’s reading belongs to the part of the book called “the book of consolation” chapters 30 and 31,   considered to be one of the highest points in the spirituality of the Old Testament.    

Ø  Jeremiah dares to propose the substitution of the Covenant on Mount Sinai by a “New Covenant.” 

Ø  The emphasis is on the word “new”, on the newness which this covenant will bring.     

Ø  Jesus fulfills this new covenant, announced by Jeremiah, and Jesus himself on consecrating the wine says that this is the new and eternal covenant…  

Ø  What is this new covenant?    

o   First of all it is new, it is not the old one with some changes, no, it is new, completely new.   

o   God says that he will make a new covenant with House of Israel. The church is called the new Israel, which is formed by all who accept the Lord, who turn their eyes to him to be saved 

o   This covenant will not be like the covenant made when God took their “fathers” and led them by his hand from slavery to freedom.  

o   It will not be a law written on cold and hard stones, like the first covenant on Mount Sinai.   

o   It is a covenant in which God repeats “You will be my people” and “I will be your God.”   

o   Under these words we discover the compassionate love of God toward all those men and women who will be his people.  We are all invited, no one is rejected.

o   In the New Covenant the law will be written in hearts of human flesh, in the heart of each man and woman who will look at the Lord to be saved.  

o   God will be more than ever “his God” and they will be “his people.”   

o   Something new will happen, each  person (young and old) will know the law  since God will put it in their hearts.   

o   This law will be in the human heart like the rivers of water which Jesus promised the Samaritan woman.   

o   The church has seen in these passages about the living water and the law in the heart, the pouring out and the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, on his church, on each one of its members. 

o   All this wonderful things will happen because he will have forgiven their guilt and their sin. Jesus will fulfill this offering his life on the cross for the glory of the Father and our salvation, both things are the same thing.  



In the  Responsorial Psalm, we will ask God CREATE IN ME A PURE HEART, on which you may write the new law, the new covenant.    

Have mercy on me God in your goodness

In the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

And of my sin cleanse me.

CREATE IN ME A PURE HEART

A clean heart create for me O God

And a steadfast spirit renew within me

Cast me not out from your presence

And your Holy Spirit take not from me

CREATE IN ME A PURE HEART

Give me back the joy of your salvation

And a willing spirit sustain in me

I will teach transgressors your ways

And sinners shall return to you.

CREATE IN ME A PURE HEART

SECOND READING  – Hebrews  5:7-9

«  The author of this letter reflects, in this chapter, on  Jesus’ priesthood. 

«  Every priest is formed in prayer which enkindles in his heart the love of God, and helps him to be more and more close to the God whom he loves.  

«  In this process man learns obedience, to become all that God has dreamed for each one of us, when he created us.   

«  Jesus, the Word of God, the Incarnate Son of the Father, who partakes in our limited human nature, in prayer, in the events of his life, learns to obey. The Letter says “he learned obedience from what he suffered.”    

«  And when he will be made perfect, consecrated in obedience, in suffering and in the giving up of his life    

«  He will become the source of salvation for all those who obey, who look at him to be saved.   

«  The author sees in all that process of Christ the priest, a new priesthood, which gives salvation to all who cling to him, and he takes them to God.   

«  For a new covenant a new priesthood is needed.     

GOSPEL   John  12:20-33

ü  John presents today a group of Greeks. As we have already said in the Gospel of John each person represents a different group of human beings.   

ü  The group today is a group of Greeks, gentiles who do not belong to the people of Israel.   

ü  They approach Philip and say WE WANT TO SEE JESUS.    

ü  When he told Jesus, he teaches the following lesson, which might seem not to respond to what those men were looking for, but Jesus is explaining this situation, some gentiles want to see him, let us remember that whoever looked at the bronze serpent in the desert was cured , whoever looks at Jesus with faith is saved.   

ü  The hour has come, what hour? The hour of Jesus which John mentions several times in his Gospel.   

o   It is not a chronological hour, but a “kayros” a time of salvation.   

o   It is the hour of the glorification of the Son. What glorification? The glorification of his death and resurrection, his Passover.   

ü  He has to die like the grain of wheat in order to give life.  

o   All of us, if we want to give life we have to die like the grain of wheat, like Jesus

o   Jesus invites us, if we want to serve him, to follow him because where “I am” my servant will also be

o   Whoever serves him will be honored by the Father. After all the Father said on the Mountain of the Transfiguration “listen to him.”

ü  Jesus opens his heart to us he tells us “I am troubled.”   

o   Jesus is ready to do the will of the Father which is his food, but as a man that he is, he experiences fear of suffering, abandonment, scorn, death.   

o   How much we have to be grateful to Jesus for opening his heart and letting us know his feelings.    

o   But John continues saying that Jesus acknowledges that he has come for this “hour”  

o   Will he ask the Father to deliver him up from this hour?   

o   No, because he has come for this “hour.” It is the hour to make real in his flesh the “New Covenant” for the salvation of all.   

o   Jesus asks the Father to glorify his name as Father  

o   The Father responds to Jesus, he speaks to him as he did in his baptism and on the transfiguration, “I have already glorified you and will glorify you again”  

o   The glory of Jesus lies in his filial, loving and difficult obedience to the compassionate and loving will of the Father.   

o   Those present do not understand the meaning of the voice, but Jesus explains that this voice did not come for him, but for them, to help them to see Jesus not with the eyes of flesh but of faith.   

ü  And Jesus makes the solemn declaration   

o   Now the judgment of this world has come   

o   Now the prince of this world, the evil spirit  has been driven away, it has no more power.   

o   And once “ I will be lifted up from the earth” I will attract all to me. The cross of Christ has always been the point of attraction of Christians and non-Christians.   

o   Jesus realizes completely the “new covenant” engraved in the human heart, his death seals this covenant made in love and compassion; and thus he attracts all. Only a compassionate and respectful love can make us go back to the heart of our Father.     

ü  John ends this fragment saying that “lifted up from the earth” means Jesus death on the cross.   

  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

  • CASTRO SÁNCHEZ, Secundino. Evangelio de Juan – Compendio exegético-existencial. Madrid 2002.
  • LOZANO, Juan Manuel. Escritos(Writings) María Antonia París, Estudio crítico, “El Misionero Apostólico- The Apostolic Missionary.”   Barcelona 1985.
  • RAVASI, GIANFRANCO. Según las Escrituras.  Doble Comentario de las lecturas del domingo. Año B.  San Pablo, Bogotá,Colombia 2005.
  • RUBIO MORÁN, Luis. “Escrito a los Hebreos” en Comentario al Nuevo Testamento. Estella (Navarra) 1995.  

§  VIÑAS, José María cmf y BERMEJO, Jesús, cmf.  Autobiography of Saint Anthony Mary Claret. 

 CLARETIAN CORNER 

For us the Claretian Missionary Sisters the first reading has a very especial and dear meaning. We believe that the new covenant was made real in the heart of our Foundress on her Initial Experience, when the Lord engraved his law in her heart.    

            I was very attentive, overwhelmed to what was happening, and it seemed to me that I was reading the Holy Law of God, but without seeing any books nor letters; I  was seeing it written, and I was understanding it so very well, that it seemed to me it was imprinting in my soul but in a particular way the book of the Holy Gospels, which till then I had never read, neither  the Sacred Scripture (O.T). After, by God’s grace, I have read something and I have seen it written word by word, as our Lord taught it to me from the holy tree of the cross. It seems to me that the words I understood were coming out from his host holy mouth. (María Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 5)
 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.(Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography  494)