THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT  - CYCLE C - 2019

INTRODUCT

To help me in finding the meaning of these readings, I have looked at the Gospels from cycles A and B: A, is about encounter of the Samaritan woman with Jesus, B, is the purification of the Temple by Jesus; both readings are taken from the Gospel of John.   

 The theme that we can discover in these readings is conversion, a conversion which is fidelity to our call or vocation.

   FIRST READING  Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15    

Ø  Today’s reading speaks of the call YHWH makes to Moses.  

Ø  Moses comes with the flock of his father in law to the Horeb, Sinai, the mountain of God.  

Ø  God reveals himself to Moses     

o   as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that is, the God of the fathers.   

o   God is the God of history who takes care of the oppressed, the needy, and the one who suffers. This means that he is a God close to human beings who can say, “I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I have heard their complaints against their oppressors and I have come to deliver them.”  

o   God besides being so close (immanent) is also a transcendent God:  

§  The burning bush which is not consumed  

§  The order given to Moses to take off his shoes because he is on holy ground. God is present there.  

§  His mysterious name  

o   The name    

§  For the peoples of the Bible the name is the same as the person, it has to be respected like the person is respected.  

§  In addition, to know the name of a person is in certain measure to have dominion over him or her, to be able to manipulate him or her.  

§  God cannot be manipulated, because he is the very OTHER. He says to Moses his name which seems enigmatic, or even a way not to say his true name

§  However, in reality, this is his true name, his identity I AM WHO AM, it means I am the one who does not depend on others to exist, I exist by myself. 

Ø  After explaining to Moses why he has come, he tells him to go to deliver his brothers and sisters. 

Ø  You will tell them I AM (YHWH) sends me to you to deliver you from Egypt and to lead you into a fertile land.  

Ø  What a beautiful text which narrates the conversation between God who calls and the one called that looks for excuses because he is afraid but finally he finds his strength in God to be faithful “I am with you.” 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Ps 103            

  

ü  Psalm 103 is a hymn to the mercy of God   

ü  It begins and ends with a blessing.  

ü  It has two sections: a) a song to love and pardon (3-10)  b) a song to love and frailty (11-19)

God loves us with an infinite love and an unparalleled tenderness   

ü  God is Father full of kindness.   

ü  Jesus, the image of the invisible God, reveals this kindness and love from the cross “Father forgive them…”  

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills,
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

SECOND READING  1 Cor 10:1-6. 10-12

      Paul reminds the community of Corinth how those who left Egypt and journeyed through the desert had the same experiences: the sea, the cloud, the manna, the Law.  

      However, their fate was different due to the different way each one accepted the gratuitous gifts that God gave them. 

      Paul continues to say that this happened to teach us. To teach what? Fidelity to the call we have received in baptism.  

      And it is also a call not only to be faithful but, humble and trusting  in the Lord. “Therefore whoever,  thinks he is standing secure, should take care not to fall.   

GOSPEL  Lk 13:1-9

ü  Some people came to Jesus and,  told him about the Galileans, that Pilate had  killed. We do not know with what intention they communicated that to Jesus. 

ü  Jesus takes the opportunity to remind all his listeners that this happened to them not because they were worst sinners than the rest of us, but that all of us need to “convert to the Lord” and do good works, be faithful to our call, on the contrary, we will perish.  We will not perish because Pilate or somebody else will kill us, but because with our sins we will bring death upon us.   

ü  And the Lord continues to tell them a parable to illustrate what he had told them:  

o   A man had a fig tree planted in his orchard. 

o   When he came to pick up fruit there was none. 

o   He called the gardener and told him to cut it down because for three years he had come to search for fruit and had found none.  Why should it exhaust the soil for nothing?  

o   The gardener said to him, leave it for one more year, I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize.  

o   If it continues not to give fruit you can  cut it down. 

ü  This parable seems like the history of salvation accomplished by Jesus.  

o   He is the one who takes care of the fig tree, wait a little Father, let me go and live among them, and let me tell them how much you love them and how you wish them to live, and you will see how they change. 

o   I will hand myself over in their hands, loving them unconditionally as you love them, so they can see your love in me, learn and even if they kill me I will continue to love them.  

 CLARETIAN CORNER 

My Lord and my God, if you do not tell me in what religious order you want me to enter so as to comply with your      command, I do not know how this will be don.” Because by all means I wanted to be a religious. “My God, perhaps do you want something new?” (I did not know what I was asking)  I asked this question by Divine inspiration because it please hid Divine Majesty to be asked with simplicity, and if this seemed an  indiscreet question, because in God there is nothing impossible, our Lord did not take it wrong, because it was not asked our of curiosity, much less of mistrust in the infinite power of God,  (Our Lord has give this readiness, that as soon as I know the will of God, there is nothing difficult to me, blessed be God for his goodness. Thus, our Lord told me with much pleasure: “Yes, my daughter, I want a new order, but not new in doctrine but new in practice.” And here (at this moment) our Lord gave me the traits of the whole order and told me that I should be called: “APOSTLES of JESUS CHRIST IN IMITATION of THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.” Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 7.

I often say to myself: It is of faith that there is a heaven for the good and a hell for the wicked. It is of faith, too, that the pains of hell are eternal. It is also of faith that a single mortal sin is enough to damn a soul because of the infinite malice of mortal sin, which is an offense against an infinite God. Since these principles are all so certain, the thought of the ease with which people sin--as if it were like taking a glass of water, as if it were something funny or amusing--the thought of the crowds that stay continuously in mortal sin and are thus on the road to death and hell--this thought robs me of rest, and I feel like running and crying out. And I tell myself:  If I saw someone about to fall into a pit or a fire, I would surely run and cry out a warning to save him from falling. Why shouldn't I do the same to save someone from falling into the pit and fire of hell? Saint Anthony Mary  Claret, Founder  of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 11-12.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

            CLARET, Antonio María. Autobiography.

            PAGOLA, José A. El camino abierto por Jesús – Lucas,  2012.

            PARIS, María Antonia. Autobiography.

RAVASI, Gianfranco. Según las Escrituras – Ciclo C. San Pablo 2006. 

SCHÖKEL , Luis Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.

SAGRADA BIBLIA, Official Version of the Spanish Conference of Bishops. 2012.