17th
SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE C – 2019
Ø In the last two Sundays, the theme of the
liturgy was about hospitality. The
hospitality of the Samaritan and of the two sisters Martha and Mary.
Ø Today the theme will be prayer.
FIRST
READING Gn 18:20-32
Ø The three strangers who visited Abraham left
in direction to Sodom and Gomorra, two cities that were and have always been
considered corrupted.
Ø Abraham thinks that God is going to destroy
the city of Sodom for its sins.
Ø I do not believe God destroys in order to
punish sin, on the contrary, I believe
that God is always the Creator and He gives all of us the opportunity to renew
our life; whether I understand it or not.
Ø This reading is very interesting; it helps us
to see a very close and natural relationship between Abraham and God. Abraham knows how to bargain, maybe he was
used to do it in his businesses. However, what is beautiful and remarkable is
his closeness to God.
Ø First, he questions God, whether he is going
to punish the just and the sinners equally, because this is not what the
supreme judge are supposed to do.
Ø Afterwards he starts with 50 just people in
the city and ends with 10 just people.
Ø What we can learn for our prayer is his
simplicity and friendship with God, and his concern for his nephew Lot and the
rest of the human beings.
Ø At the end of this conversation, God says that
for the sake of 10 just men he will spare the city. From history, we know that a volcano
destroyed both cities. God does not use one part of creation to destroy another
part of creation. On the contrary, God helps us in the difficult situations to
go through them, and many human beings when they are suffering come back to God
following his gentle voice calling them.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 138: 1-2ª. 2bc-3. 6-7ab. 7c-8
R.Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me;
against the anger of my enemies you raise your hand.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me;
against the anger of my enemies you raise your hand.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Ø The
author of the psalm gives thanks to the Lord in the name of all human
beings
o Because the Lord
listens
o
He is pleased with
the humble and despises the proud
o
He protects us from our enemies
o
He will conclude in us the work he has begun.
o His love endures
forever.
o
We are the work of his hands.
SECOND
READING : Col 2:12-14
· In Our baptism we
have been submerged in the death and resurrection of Christ
· To be submerged
is the meaning of the word baptism. The external sign reminds us that we have
been submerged in Christ, as if he were a sea of mercy, pardon and new
life.
GOSPEL: Lk 11:1-13
Jesus is praying,
and one of his disciples full of enthusiasm observing him praying so naturally to God,
wants him to teach them to pray like him.
The reading has
three themes or three teachings related to prayer: the Our Father, the friend
who comes untimely, parents and
children.
Let us begin by the Our Father
o
This prayer in Luke is somehow a little bit
different than in Matthew
o
He does not say where God is “in heaven” but
speaks immediately of the Kingdom
o
After mentioning the Kingdom the petitions
that follow have to do with that Kingdom:
§ The bread, the
opportunity to live as real human beings everyday
§ The forgiveness
of sins by God and by us, this is what we ask Him, to forgive us because we
also forgive.
§ We do not ask to
be freed from temptations but the strength not to fall into them. Temptations
will always exist because they come from things we like but which are not good
for us, they do not help us to be better human beings. Like the toddlers when
they discover the fire, the electricity, the swimming pools, and many other
things which are dangerous for them. Parents continually have to protect them
and forbid them to do what they would like but which is dangerous for
them.
The friend who
comes untimely
o
He comes at a time which is not appropriate
for the family of his friend
o
However he continues knocking at the door and
the door is opened and he gets what he needs
o
It seems that the Lord wants to teach us the
need to persevere knocking, why?
o
I have always heard that God likes us to
insist, to persevere asking, and they have explain this to me in very different
ways.
o
Since I did not like the explanations, something was missing in them, I kept
reflecting and asking the Lord for the meaning. I think that the Lord teaches
us to repeat over and over the same petition,
not because he needs this or wants this from us, but because he knows
that it is for our good. As we keep repeating the same petition, little by
little we change, we start allowing the
Lord to change our heart and to mold it according to his own heart.
Parents and
Children
o
I find this section most reassuring
o
God is a good father. When I look at the
parents, how they do good things for their children, and reflect on the words
Jesus told us that none of us is good; I say to
myself, will not the Father God who is good, do much more for each one of us
his children? When I say “we” I think of all the human beings.
CLARETIAN CORNER
August 27 1856.
During the thanksgiving to God after the Holy Communion, when I made my
profession, our Lord told me to take rest from my fears, that I had written
well what he had commanded me. And that my prelate was holy but he had to
sanctify himself more by the means His majesty commanded me to write, that this
was His will. Venerable
María Antonia París, foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters,
Autobiography 68.
Ever since I
was a small boy I have been attracted to piety and religion. I used to attend
Mass on all feasts and holy days and on other days, too, when I possibly could.
On feast days I usually attended two Masses, a Low Mass and a High Mass, always
together with my father. I cannot remember ever playing, looking around, or
talking in church. On the contrary, I was always so recollected, modest, and
devout that when I compare those early years with the present I am ashamed
because, to my great embarrassment, I must admit that even now I lack the fixed
attention and heartfelt fervor that I had then. ... Saint
Anthony Mary Claret, founder of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 36.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET, Saint Anthony Mary.
Autobiography.
PARIS, Venerable María
Antonia. Autobiography
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