XXVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE B – 2018 

«  The readings for the liturgy of this Sunday speak of the true wisdom, the wisdom that comes from God.   

«  In the Gospel we will read how Jesus shows to the young man, who asks him about eternal life, the way to perfect happiness and true wisdom. 

FIRST READING: Wis 7:7-11

Ø  In the verses 1 to 6 of this chapter, the King introduces himself and confesses that he is like everybody else.    

Ø  And thus he prays to obtain the wisdom he needs to live his mission of king of Israel.  

Ø  The text that follows, beginning on verse 7 is very similar to what we find in 1 Kg 3 about the dream of Solomon at Gabaon, where God tells him to ask whatever he wishes, and the only thing Solomon wishes is wisdom to govern his people.  

Ø  He mentions first prudence and afterwards he speaks of wisdom.  

Ø  He prefers it to   

o   royal power

o   wealth, which is nothing compared to her  

o   the most precious stones   

o   gold, which compared to wisdom, is like the sand  

o   silver, which is like mud, compared to wisdom  

Ø  He prefers her to health and beauty 

Ø  He chose her as the light to guide him   

Ø  And he says, that with her came all that is good for him.   

Ø  Because in her hands there are innumerable riches.   

Ø  What a beautiful text, which describes the wisdom that comes from God.

Ø  With wisdom freedom is given to us. Freedom, which helps us to overcome all the ties from our fears, sins, envies, laziness

Ø  Alonso Schökel writes in his commentary found on the Bible of our People:  

The wisdom of God cannot be recognized if we do not become reconciled with our human nature, and from there to consider it as a gift from God, a gift which surpasses all the other goods which man might acquire. It is a gift, which as every gift grows as we share it.   

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM– Ps  90  

ü  This psalm is a meditation on the value of time.      

ü  In the verses we will sing on Sunday, we ask God to have mercy on us, that his kindness may descend upon us.  

ü  The last verse helps us to understand that at the end, man will be what he had worked on himself and what God had done on him.    

R Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
Make us glad, for the days when you afflicted us,
for the years when we saw evil.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Let your work be seen by your servants
and your glory by their children;
and may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy! 

GOSPEL  Mk 10:17-30

«  Jesus continues on the road to Jerusalem.   

«  A man approaches him; he is very much interested in speaking to Jesus.   

«  He wants to know, what he has to do to obtain eternal life. This is a very valid question.   

«  John Paull II in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor (the Splendor of Truth) says that this is a vital question, which every human being has and wishes to find an answer.     

«  It is not a question about laws and rules; it is an existential question about  how to live.   

«  Jesus reminds the man that only God is good. Yes, we are faced with our God, who is incredibly good and kind.   

«  The answer of Jesus is about the teaching of the Law, to enter eternal life keep the commandments.  

      What commandments?  All those we call the commandments of the second stone, which have to do with our relationship with our neighbors: you shall not kill (5) you shall not commit adultery (6) you shall not steal (7) you shall not bear false witness (8) you shall not covet what belongs to you neighbor (9-10) you shall respect your father and mother (4).    

      The man has lived according to these commandments since his youth. We do not know if this man is a mature man or a young man.    

«  The dialogue takes a different turn now:    

      Jesus looks at the man with love and offers him something else, he reveals to the man the true richness, that he is missing:  

§  Leave all that you have, but do not throw it away, instead, sell it   

§  Give this money to the poor, so that your possessions will help others  

§  Afterwards, come and follow me. You can only follow me, if you leave everything behind.   

§  Only the following of Jesus is what gives meaning to “leave, sell and give”.   

      We have been told that this man is rich. The riches are not bad since they come from the goods of creation, which have God as the author.   

      The riches are bad when they become our god, and we cannot live anymore without them.   

      This man is rich, he is unable to discover the beauty, the wisdom that Jesus offers him.   

      Thus he goes away sad, he was joyful and ready when he came but he heard what he did not want to hear.

«  Now Jesus looks at his disciples and  

      He tells them how difficult it is for he who has his heart fixed on riches to enter the kingdom of God.  

      They are surprised, but Jesus says to them that man cannot do this, but God can do it.   

      Jesus uses one of his exaggerations to help us understand his point, the camel and the needle.  

      Peter asks, probably in the name of all of them, “what will we have at the end since we have left everything behind to follow you.”   

      You will have one hundred fold in this life for each thing you have left behind, but this will be accompanied by persecutions, that are difficulties and sufferings.    

      You will have eternal life in the “future world.”  

SEGUNDA LECTURA: Heb 4,12-13

ü  The Word of God is not like man’s word, which is changing and sometimes false. 

ü  The Word of God is living and effective; it does what it says, the Word is creative.   

ü  Sharper than any two edged sword, the word discerns between good and bad. It does not act on appearances but from the deepest recesses of our truth.      

ü  Nothing is concealed for her, her light illumines everything; nothing and nobody can escape from her. 

ü   Verse 13 ends saying that we will give an account of our life to her. Yes, we will give an account of our truth and our lie, to her. 

  

CLARETIAN CORNER

in brief, with what he sent us [Caixal], what the postulants brought, what had come from Cuba and the alms that, you know,  our most dear Father His Excellency Claret has sent, we manage to go on; and in conclusion, I say that the way it has been done  is more to be experienced that to explain, the finger of God is here, and without this nothing could be done,  and it will be so in all our convents. Do you not remember what happened to His Excellency in Cuba? That the Lord made him buy the house  without [Claret]willing it, since he had said: “I do not know why I have bought it.” Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress.  Letter to Currius in History, ch VIII note 73.  

I have read them and they look good to me; I have missed two books among those you mentioned, one is about the Exercises of St. Ignatius explained and published by me, and the other is the life of Mary Most Holy that is the Mystical City of God written by Mother Agreda; I think that you know both works and maybe you have them, but if you do not have them you may order them from the Religious Bookstore and I will pay them…St  Anthony Mary Claret, Founder, letter to Currius in History, ch VIII note 116.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 ALVAREZ, Jesús, cmf. History of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, 1980.

PAGOLA, José A. Following in the Footsteps of Jesus – Meditations on the Gospel for Year B.

RAVASI, GIANFRANCO. Según las Escrituras – Año B. Traducido por Justiniano Beltrán. Bogotá 2005.  

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. Misioneros Claretianos. China 2008.