18 SUNDAY
IN ORDINARY TIME - A – 2020
ü Last Sunday Jesus spoke about the hidden treasure
and the Pearl, to have them the person who found either the treasure or the
Pearl, sell everything and buy them, and
this produces great joy in that person.
ü Today Jesus tells us
“given them food yourselves” like He said to those young men, the apostles, who
followed him and were worried about the people.
ü In the first reading God invites us to eat and drink
without paying. It is an invitation to renew our covenant with our God.
ü And Paul in his letter to the Romans says that nothing
will be able to separate us from the love of God manifested in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
THE BOOK OF THE THIRD ISAIAH
The
first reading this week is taken from the last chapters of the book of Isaiah
which is called the Third Isaiah.
o
The book of the
prophet Isaiah is composed of three different books, written by different
authors and in different times very much apart from each other, and thus in
different social scenarios.
o
We do not know
who the author or authors are, probably some other prophets with a similar
theology to the theology of the First Isaiah also called Isaiah from Jerusalem
(the first 39 chapters of the book)
o
The Third Isaiah
has the prophetic mission to keep the hope of the people alive.
o
In this part of
the book of Isaiah we discover tensions between the present situation and the
future hope; between denouncing the crimes and the messages encouraging the
people; the disappointment for the present situation and the messianic
expectation; the openness to the foreigners and the condemnations.
o
The theme of the
exodus gives way to the future Jerusalem, the transfigured city in fulfillment
of the promises.
o
The Third Isaiah
goes from chapter 56 to 66.
FIRST READING Is 55:1-3
Ø
God, through the
voice of the prophet, invites all of us to go the water. It is an invitation to those who cannot
pay.
Ø
It is also an
invitation to eat wheat without cost.
Ø
The prophet asks:
why spend your money for what is not
bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Ø
Our God invites
all of us to receive food and drink without paying.
o
Let us approach
him and we will not go hungry, not only hunger for bread, but hunger for the
bread of life, the bread of his word, the bread of an intimate relationship
with Him.
o
Yes, He can
surely satisfy all the longings and desires of our heart.
o
Everything is
given to us without cost by the loving will of our Father God, we are only
asked to listen=to obey; to come and
seek= to ask for.
o
It is given
without cost because his love cannot be paid, we cannot buy it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Ps 145:8-9.15-16.17-18
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
· The Lord is kind and compassionate, slow to anger. He
takes care of his creation, the work of his love.
·
Not only is he
compassionate, but he is also just and kind.
·
The Lord who is
just makes us just when we welcome him with simplicity and humility.
·
Paul in one of
his letters says that everything turns out good for those who love God, and in
this psalm the verse who follows after the fragment we will read during the
liturgy says precisely the same God satisfies
the desires of those who fear him=love him=seek him.
GOSPEL Mt 14:13-21
v
During three
Sundays the Gospel of the Eucharistic Celebration
was taken from chapter 13 opf the Gospel of Matthew.
v
Today we go to
chapter 14 which begins telling us the death of John the Baptist, who had been
beheaded by King Herod.
v
The Gospel tells
us that when Jesus heard about the fate of John the Baptist, he retired to a
deserted place across the lake.
v
When he
disembarks the hungry crowd is waiting there to listen to his word.
v
And Matthew tells
us that Jesus was moved by compassion, compassion which is always the deepest
and more frequent feeling of Jesus.
v
Why is he moved
by compassion? Because they are sick and
as sheep without guidance.
v
In contrast with
Jesus’ compassion, Jesus who has eyes to see the human suffering, has ears to
listen to the silent cry of those suffering, his disciples look for the easy
way, …so they can go and buy food for
themselves…
v
But Jesus whose
behavior is so many times challenging says to them …give them some food yourselves.
v
How is that going
to happen in this deserted place, we only have five loaves and two fish….
v
Bring them to me…
make them sit on the grass, and raising his eyes toward his Father
o
He gives thanks
o
He breaks the bread
o
and He distributes it to the crowd by means of his
disciples.
v
All ate and were
satisfied and there were even leftovers????
o
God has created
the world, maybe it is more accurate to say that he begins the process of
creating, I say it in the present tense
because creation is a continuous process
o
And afterwards he
involves us in this process
o
Creation which
entails also everything that is going on in the human heart, in the midst of the human race, that is to say, in the
process to become human.
o
To accomplish this,
our Father God awaits for our
cooperation.
o
This is an exciting
call, to be part of the transformation of creation, of society, and of each individual
person.
o
How thankful we should
be towards our God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
o
The Gospels says
that they not only ate, but they were satisfied.
o
This is how the
overflowing love of our God works.
o
This Gospel is a
strong call to acknowledge our responsibility in front of the worldwide situation
of hunger and death, and now also in the rich countries some of our brothers
and sisters of these countries among them ours, are in want due to the
devastation of COVD19.
o
A call not to say
as the disciples tell them to go….
o
But like Jesus
who asks them to sit down and he distributes the food to them.
o
As followers of
Jesus we are called to do something, and not be satisfied just saying …poor
people they die from hunger.
o
Because our
Father has put into this world enough resources for all, but some of us take
more than what we should and thus steal from our brothers and sisters what is
theirs.
o
We need to awake! St.
John Paul II said that the Lord our God will make our generation responsible of
the hunger which our brothers and sisters suffer.
o
This story of the
multiplication of the loaves and fish is a miracle of Jesus transforming not the bread and fish
but moving the heard of stone of the people and transforming them into hearts of flesh that were moved to share their own small or large amount of
food, they had prepared for themselves, with others.
SECOND READING Rom 8:35.37-39
Paul
asks himself what will separate us from
the love of Christ? And gives the answer himself “nothing” He mentions some of the evils which hurt us: anguish,
great suffering, persecution, hunger, nakedness, dangers, wars… And he keeps saying “nothing” Why does he say that? Because he is convinced that neither death nor life,
neither the present nor the future, neither the worldly powers, nor height nor
depth.. NO
CREATURE Will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Jesus What consoling words are these! We can firmly say that, not because it is a nice
imagination or desire, but because the Son of God has become one of us through
his incarnation, and he has given up his life to rescue us from all that could
separate us from Him. Again we repeat, how thankful we have to be to our
God
o
For the food,
which means all our needs, which his love provides for us.
o
Not only the
material needs but also the spiritual ones.
This virtue should be so
precious that it was the first one that the Most Holy Humanity of Our Lord
Jesus Christ practiced, being born in a shoddy manger, poorer than all the poor
in the world. Oh poverty of my God, who
could inherit your riches! Christ Our
Lord taught us all the virtues in a heroic degree because it was God’s own
virtue, but it seems that he wanted to inculcate Holy Poverty in a particular
way (because she was his inseparable companion.
He is born very poor, lives in utmost poverty and dies in extreme
necessity), as the foundation of evangelical life. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of
the Claretian Missionary Sister, “Plan for the Renewal of the Church
44” in Paris and Claret Two Pens Moved by
the Same Spirit.
One of the things that the
Prelate
should procure is the instruction of the girls, because if these are well
educated in a virtuous life, religion and duties of their sex, they will not
only be good, but in the future they will be good mothers, and countless goods
will come from this. Thus the Prelate will procure all the possible
institutions in each parish of his diocese, and in order that these
sisters continue to be good, he will
make sure that they practice the spiritual exercises every year, that they have an extraordinary confessor, and practice
mental prayer every day; that they are always busy, that they do not speak too much, that they
are not fond of visitations, and that
they keep the Rules of their Institute Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters, “Plan to Restore
the Beauty of the Church” in Paris and
Claret, two Pens Moved by the Same Spirit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MUÑOZ, M.Hortensia y TUTZO, Regina, Claretian Missionary
Sisters. Paris and
Claret, two Pens Moved by the Same Spirit. 2010
PAGOLA, José A.
El camino abierto por Jesús. PPC 2012
LA
BIBLIA, from the Web page of the Vatican.
SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión oficial de la Conferencia
Episcopal Española, Madrid 2012.
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