13th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY
TIME – CYCLE – 2019
·
We are again in
the liturgical time called “ordinary time”. A professor once said that there is
nothing ordinary about this time.
·
Ordinary life
is everyday life, the life of anyone of the human beings,
the life that goes unnoticed, that seems monotonous and without value.
·
However, it is
the life in which God makes himsef present to us through the persons we meet and through the events of
life.
BOOK 1 Kings
Ø The two books of Kings are the continuation of
the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.
Ø These books are part of what we call the
Deuteronomistic history, which goes from the conquest of the Promised Land to
the Babylonian exile.
Ø In these books the monarchy is judged with the
theological criteria of the book of Deuteronomy following the scheme sin – exile – return
Ø The author usually gives a negative judgment on
the behavior of kings and of the people.
Ø In these books, the prophets have great
importance. Elijah in 1 Kings and Elisha in 2 Kings.
FIRST READING – 1 King 19,
16b. 19-21
Ø The reading has three paragraphs, we could
describe them as three different scenes of a play.
Ø In the first scene, Elijah hears God’s voice
that orders him to anoint Elisha as his successor.
o
How did he hear
the voice? If we read some verses before the author tells us that Elijah hears
a light silence sound.
o
Then he went out
of the cave where he was hiding and the voice asked him “what do you do here
Elijah?”
o
Elijah says “I
have been most zealous for the Lord, God of hosts” and he explains that things
go wrong in the society where he lives.
o
The Lord asks him to go back and to take the desert
road. He should look for Elisha to anoint him as a prophet, his successor.
o
To leave one’s
ministry to another person is difficult; it is like allowing part of one’s life
to be taken from, it is to accept that life has changed, that life is close to
its end, to the last encounter.
o
We do not know
what Elijah thought, what he felt, Scripture does not say anything about
that.
Ø In the second scene Elijah goes to meet
Elisha
o
Elisha is
working, he is tilling with twelve yoke of oxen.
o
Doesn’t this
scene remind us what the New Testament tells about the call of the fishermen or
the tax collector…follow me?
o
The call from God
does not come to us necessarily when we are praying; it comes usually during
our ordinary life. God calls me in my everyday life. Do I listen to his voice, which resounds in the persons and in the events.
How has God called me…?
o
Elijah
communicates to Elisha God’s election by throwing his cloak on him.
o
It seems to me
that some of our liturgical rites have the same meaning: the Bishop’s
imposition of hands on the future priests.
It is like sharing with the future priest the gift, the grace of the priesthood;
we also say that faith goes from one to
another, something like an infection….
o
Elisha leaves
what he is doing and says goodbye to his parents.
Ø In the third scene Elisha
o
Offers a
sacrifice to Yahweh with the oxen he was using for his work, and invites the
people to share the meal
o
Than the text
says that he went with Elijah.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 16: 1-2a y 5. 7-8. 9-10. 11
R. (cf. 5a) You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you.
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot."
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "My Lord are you.
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot."
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence
because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
What a beautiful
prayer: You are my inheritance Lord. Is he really my inheritance?
SECOND READING Gal 5: 1.
13-18
v Paul reminds us that Christ has given us
freedom.
v I think that freedom was given to us in
creation and it is given again back to us with the death and resurrection of
Jesus.
v Do not let anything or anyone take freedom away from
us.
v Paul reminds us also that law and freedom are
not opposed but they go together.
v He reminds us also the commandment: Love
your neighbor as you love yourself.
v Paul says something very
interesting, if we allow the Spirit to guide us we will not be under the
dominion of the law.
v I invite all of us to reflect
during this week on this last sentence in order to understand what he wants to
tell us.
GOSPEL
LK 9: 51-62
v When the days for his being
taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.
v From chapter 9 verse 51
begins the last part of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus will teach his disciples
on the way; this is his way to be Teacher, Rabbi.
v Doesn’t that remind us of the
way to Emmaus when he spoke and taught them, and their hearts were
burning?
v He determines to go up to
Jerusalem where he will give his life
v In today’s reading Luke
narrates three different vocation episodes
o
In
all these episodes Jesus says to those who offer themselves and to the one he
invites, some conditions of the following, which could discourage them: the Son
of man has nowhere to rest his head, not to be able to burry one’s dead, not to
be able to say farewell to the family….
o
These
words have given plenty to think and to write in regards to the following. I
think that the intention of the evangelist is not that we dwell on the details,
but on the reality of the surrendering generously, completely and without
conditions.
o Let us look at our own vocation history and
let us ask the Lord for light to discover his presence in this history.
RINCON CLARETIANO
On a feast day of
St. Peter and St. Paul, after holy communion I went to the gallery, so as to be
able to talk alone with my God about the work He has entrusted me and the great
difficulties I saw in its execution. I did not dare to tell our Lord what was impossible
for me, because I always had firm, by the grace of God, the certitude of the
power of God in his creatures. But in those days our Lord permitted that I
forget all the promises that his divine Majesty had given me; I saw nothing but
human causes like a strong and invisibly army. I saw my littleness and poverty
as a person. I was so confused, that even to talk about it to our Lord, I was
ashamed for I did not see any talent in me, not a natural talent nor one by
grace in order to cooperate with the
designs of God our Lord. So, bathed in
tears I could not find other words but: How can this be Lord?” I was also very
oppressed to see myself all alone in a work of so great importance that the
more I thought in my nothingness, the more his Dive Majesty would show me
clearly the purpose of its exact fulfillment and the glory that would redound to God our Lord for the
good of the church. Because of this I had much courage to suffer, for our Lord
gave me a great love for my holy mother church, that if the cost of my life
(Even if I had one thousand lives) with all the love of my heart, even if I had
to go to the end of the world, I would suffer to restore her peace, the most
cruel torments. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress
of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 35.
Later on, when I was living alone in the city of Barcelona and witnessed so
much evil, I would imagine those good people speaking to me: That is evil, you
should avoid it. You had better rely on God, your parents, and teacher than on
these unhappy people who don't know what they're doing or saying.
My parents and teacher not only instructed me in the truths I had to
believe but also in the virtues I needed to practice. With regard to my
neighbor, they told me never to take or covet what belongs to others and that,
if I ever found something, I should return it to its owner. It just so happened
that one day after school, as I was walking along the street toward home, I saw
a quarter lying on the
ground. I picked it up and wondered to whom I should return it. Since I
couldn't see anyone on the street, I decided that it must have fallen from the
window of the nearest house. So I went up to the house, asked for the head of
the house, and gave him the quarter. Saint Anthony Mary Claret,
Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 27-28.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET,
Saint Anthony Mary. Autobiography.
PARIS, Venerable María
Antonia. Autobiography
NEW
AMERICAN BIBLE, Revised edition 2010
SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión
oficial de la Conferencia episcopal española
US
Conference of Catholic Bishops, webpage.
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