XXX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - CYCLE B – 2018

«  Faith is the most precious gift that God has given to us. 

«  Faith enables us to discover the loving presence of God in our life.   

«  Faith is a the light that illumines our way toward the eternal  embrace of the three divine Persons.   

«  Today’s readings open the eyes of the soul to the meaning of faith.    

 

FIRST READING : Jer 31:7-9

Ø  Again the liturgy offers a Reading taken from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. 

o   The reading is  from chapter 31 which together with chapter 30 are called the little book of consolation.   

o   These chapters have a message similar to that of the Book of Consolation or the Second Isaiah, which tells of the wonders that God will do during the second exodus, the return from the Babylonian exile, the journey of the captives toward Jerusalem, their beloved and long missed homeland.  

Ø  The prophet invites to shout with joy for Jacob, Israel. To shout for joy because the Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel, the faithful remnant, the anawin, the little ones, the poor, the oppressed and marginalized, who have been faithful.  

Ø  The prophet puts before our eyes a wonderful sight; it is the huge crowd that God gathers from all the corners of the earth where they had been exiled. The prophet himself exclaims, how large is the multitude that comes back.   

Ø  It is composed by blind and lame people, image of the sufferings from the past, there are  also

among those who  return, pregnant women about to give birth, image of the life which is being born, image of the future.  

Ø  God speaks and says that if they left weeping    

o   Now they come back full of consolation because God leads them and  

o   To running waters, this means that they are not anymore in the desert, they are where water flows and gives life   

o   He leads them through smooth roads, easy to walk on.  

o   We may apply all these images to our spiritual journey.   

o   The exiled who return, those who migrate from their homeland seeking peace, bread and a land to call  home, they continue their journey in search of…. As the exiled from the first reading, whom God gathers and guides toward the land that will be their home

Ø  God speaks to us today, in the XXI century,  through these readings he calls us to open our eyes and see the reality around us,  the suffering of so many displaced persons, and to remember that our ancestors  have also been  part of that multitude, which the Lord loves and guides, waiting for us to open our hearts and our arms, as He does for us, welcoming  our brothers and sisters who knock at our doors.          

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM  – Sal. 126   

R.   The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

ü  It is a psalm of joy. 

ü  It speaks of a reality of suffering and sadness in the past, they left weeping, they sowed in tears   

ü  To a situation of happiness and joy such, that their mouth was filled with laughter and songs.   

ü  What God has done is so great that even the nations acknowledge it

ü  God has changed the conditions of their lives in a way that only God can do it. He has changed mourning into dancing.    

The change is such that if they sowed in tears now they come back rejoicing carrying the sheaves.  

GOSPEL  MK 10:46-52

«  In the   two previous Sundays Mark has presented to us three men that could see with their eyes, but were blind in relation to the teachings of Jesus.   

o   The man who wanted to reach eternal life  

o   The disciples who wanted the first seats   

«  Today Mark introduces to us a blind man who cannot see the light of the sun, but in the depth of his being he has the light of faith which makes him cry out Son of David, has pity on me, Lord that I may see!     

«  Not too often do the Evangelists give the name of a blind man, but here Mark says that it is Bartimeus the son (Bar) of Timeous or Timothy.  The Gospels mentioned very often-blind persons, it seems that this was a common condition in Israel.   

«  Jesus calls him, and asks   what do you want from me?  Lord I want to see.  Jesus says to him go your faith has saved you.   

«  The light, the ability to see is compared in Scripture with faith, which is the ability to see the truth of God, to discover his presence in our life, in the world.   

«  Jesus does not touch him; he only asks him and then says your faith has saved you.  The Lord is speaking to us of something, which goes beyond our natural sense of sight, faith in Jesus.   

«  For several weeks Mark has presented Jesus in his journey toward Jerusalem where he will give his life for us, and as he travels he teaches his disciples  

o   The hard lesson of how to be a disciple, to be like the Master

o   Lesson which reached its highest pick last week when Jesus taught about service as a service which is given, not doing things, but giving up our own life in service to others,  so that men and women may be able also to see with the eyes of faith.          

o   And, this service is the supreme love, like the love of Christ on the cross, the call to love every human being as brother and sister in imitation of Christ.  

o   Today, the severity and also the  fear that Jesus’ words on the following after him,  may cause        

o   Becomes lighter, and full of light like the eyes of the blind man Bartimeus,   

o    We have read in the first reading, the exiles return like the reapers singing as they carry their sheaves.    

o   He who gives his life for love will receive the same gift as Bartimeus, the light of the inner eyes, the light of faith, which enables us to discover the loving presence of our God, even in the midst of shadows.  

SECOND READING : Heb 5:1-6

ü   We continue the Reading of the letter to the Hebrews  

ü  We have already said that in this letter the author makes a theological reflection on the priesthood of Christ,   eternal and only high priest of the New Law, the New Covenant.   

ü  The author says that any high priest  

o    Is of the same condition as the rest of his brothers and sisters  

o   That he has not given to himself this priesthood, that he has received it  from God who has called him. 

o   He is called to offer sacrifices for his sins and for the sins of others  

o   Since he is part of the same people; he knows  weakness and  sin because he experiences them too. 

o   Neither Christ did confer to himself the dignity of priesthood, but he received it from the One who said to him:    

§  You are my Son, today I have begotten you.   And You are priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech, who offered bread and wine.   

§  The One who said to him at the Jordan River You are my son, in whom I am well pleased,.    

 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 Parías, Foundress,   Autobiography  19.  

The queen made the Spiritual Exercises that first year and has made them annually ever since. She always leaves them with a great sense of contentment and has asked others to make them. She especially likes the text of them that I published, and she has asked me to bring her copies so that she can have the pleasure of giving them as gifts; and she counsels the recipients to at least read them.

All the ladies of the court have a copy of both The Straight Path and the Spiritual Exercises. Their Majesties both enjoyed The Straight Path so much that I had a deluxe edition brought out for them by Aguado Printers in Madrid. At present, both Their Majesties and the ladies of the court lead very edifying lives: they hear Mass, read the lives of the saints daily, recite the Holy Rosary, and frequent the Sacraments. The queen and the infanta, as well as many ladies of the court, come to me for confession. They all keep busy all the time. St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 615-16.    

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, Anthony Mary . Autobiography.

PAGOLA, José A.  Following in the Footsteps of Jesus. Meditation on the Gospels of Year B. Convivium, Bogotá 2011.

PARIS, María Antonia. Autobiography, in Writings      

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

Sagrada Biblia, Versión oficial de la Conferencia episcopal española, Madrid 2011.