FEAST OF
THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD - FEBRERO 2, 2020
Ø
The liturgy
of the ordinary time is interrupted by this Sunday because it coincides with
the liturgical date of the Presentation of the Lord.
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This feast was
celebrated for the first time by the Eastern Church and was
called “The encounter.” Around the 6th century, the Western or Roman
Church began to celebrate it.
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This feast has a
double meaning: the presentation of the first born in the Temple after 40 days
of his birth and the purification of the mother.
Ø
It may be
considered either a feast of the Lord or a feast of Mary, but the Church in its
liturgy favors the feast of the Lord.
Ø
It is a feast
with a great meaning. In the book of the prophet Ezequiel, we are told that the
glory of Yahweh abandons the Temple.
Ø
This glory of
Yahweh is Christ. It returns to the Temple when Jesus is presented to the Lord.
FIRST READING Mal 3:1-4
v
The prophet
speaks as if it were God and tells us that after the Messenger, the Lord we seek will come to his Temple.
v
He switches
between the image of the Lord and that of the messenger, the messenger of the
covenant.
v
Jesus is the
mediator, the messenger of the new covenant.
v
The prophet asks
who will bear his presence, when he comes. Because
he comes to purify.
v
Let us reflect on
this image of the purification, he will purify like fire, thus he will purify the sons of Levi. The
sons of Levi are the priests.
v
He will purify
them so that they can offer the sacrifice to God.
v
Then the sacrifice
of Judah and of Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord.
v
From our baptism,
we are priests and we can offer sacrifices with our life open to the Lord and
to our brothers and sisters.
v
Jesus has come
and with his life he has purified us
from our sin, he has taken away the sin of the world and has nailed it to his cross with him.
v
When he enters in
our life and we allow him to purify us, we experience pain and sadness, like
the gold and silver. If they could speak, they would tell us their pain, but
with the joy to become what they really are.
v
This pain and
sadness become unspeakable joy, freedom, justice and peace for those who let
themselves to be purified.
v
God wants always
what is good for us; whatever he does in us is good and gives us
happiness.
v
The joy, the
happiness of his presence nobody can take it from us, a new and beautiful
intimacy with the living God, our Christ and Lord, begins.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM - Ps 24
R. (8) Who
is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD of hosts; he is the king of glory.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD of hosts; he is the king of glory.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Ø This is a psalm of praise to God creator and
victorious King
Ø The question, who is this king of glory? Is repeated
several times in the psalm and is used as the response.
Ø In the psalm to this question, the answer is the Lord
of hosts.
Ø He is the king who fights, against who or what?
Ø
Against the
forces of evil, our Lord and Christ fights so that we may get back the capacity
to be and live in the way He has created us.
SECOND LETTER - Heb 2:14-16
Jesus shares our same flesh, our same blood.
So that from our same condition and reality, he might
be able to destroy the evil one, author of evil and pain, and thus free us from
fear.
The author of this letter says that he did not
liberate the angels but the children of Abraham and thus he had to be just like
his brothers and sisters
To be able to expiate the sins of the people
Because he was tested through suffering he can help
those who are tested in many ways by pain, limitations, temptations…
GOSPEL Lk 2:22-40
§
Luke narrates the
presentation of Jesus as the firstborn and the purification of Mary as a mother
who has given birth to his first male child.
(See Levíticus c. 12)
§ In this gospel
there are four different scenes.
§
The first one
explains what is happening. What does the Law of Moses prescribes.
§
The second
introduces an older holy man who has been waiting during his entire life for this
moment in which the Lord, the Savior, would be present in the midst of his
people in his temple. His faith recognizes in this defenseless and poor child,
a child like any other child, the savior that God had promised. Do I recognize
the presence of God in the simple and daily situations of my life?
In this
second scene or paragraph, Simeon says a prayer, which the Church repeats every
day after the prayer of compline at the end of the day “Now, Master, you may let your servant
go in peace, according to your word, for
my eyes have seen your salvation which you prepared in the sight of all peoples.”
§
The third scene
explains how his parents were surprised of what they saw and heard. Simeon approached Mary and prophesized that
she would suffer much because of this defenseless child she carried into her
arms, this child will be a sign of contradiction. Certainly, Jesus is the great
sign of contradiction of everything that is against the love and respect toward
the human being and toward God.
§
In this same scene
we are introduced to the older woman Anna, she is in the temple and awaits also
with eagerness the Lord coming to his temple. She thanks God and speaks of this
child also.
§
The fourth scene
takes us to Nazareth where Jesus will spend the greatest part of his life. The evangelist tells us that the child grew
and became strong and the favor, the love and the blessing of God was upon Him.
§
The son of God
lives a simple life, “the child grew and became
strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” He is
God, but according to St. Paul in the letter to the Philippians says “he did regard
equality with God to be grasped at rather he humbled himself and subjected
himself to death, death on a cross.
§
Jesus lives in
Nazareth like any other man from his village until his hour comes to proclaim
the project of the Kingdom. He must have been like everybody else, if not, nobody would have been surprised when he began
to preach.
§
Most of the human
beings remain anonymous their entire life. Many
accept this reality of their life as something that is normal, it is their lot;
others seek to go out of this situation, seeking something different. Very
few men and women discover the wealth hidden in a simple, monotonous and
unnoticed life without glamour.
§
How do I live my
life?
CLARETIAN CORNER
“…so, I remained in my convent as before, and he
(Claret) continued in his missions, maybe without remembering me anymore, until
the time God had established from his eternity, for us to transfer to this new
world, where he wanted to begin his Work… and so it has happened in this
foundation, that though the Archbishop was unwilling to be concerned for this
or that, he has been, by Divine impulse,
concerned for everything...
The ongoing mutual knowledge
and the great spiritual similarities between them, will little by little make
possible, a sincere friendship, a mutual companionship which will manifest
itself largely through their
letters. The time they spend working
together in Cuba was especially rich.
Two strong and firm temperaments, which without planning it, were united
by God for the same Project.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MUÑOZ, Hortensia y TUTZO, Regina. Dos Plumas movidas por un mismo Espíritu. 2010
PAGOLA, José A.
El camino abierto por Jesús. PPC 2012
PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiografía
Sagrada Biblia - versión oficial de la Conferencia
Episcopal Española.
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