21 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A – 2020

Matthew’s Gospel may  be studied in different ways. Today we are going to reflect on this Gospel as divided in three stages according to the ministry of Jesus and to the answers of the people and the disciples.   

According to this

Ø  The first stage  goes from the first chapter to 4:12. It is the part of the first events and steps of Jesus in his life on earth.  This stage ends with his retreat and temptations on the desert. We could say that this is  the time in which Jesus prepares himself for the ministry to reveal to us the Father.     

Ø  The second stage  begins when John the Baptist is put in prison, when Jesus comes back from the desert he goes to Cafarnaum. During this stage he    

o   Prepares his disciples for the ministry they will do  

o   Teaches de people   about the Kingdom         

o   Argues with the Pharisees and Saducees on the true faith and about who God is.   

Ø  The third stage   begins with the episode we will see today, Jesus and the disciples in Caesarea of Philippi. During this stage Jesus    

o   Dedicates  himself to teach his disciples   

o   Prepares for his passion, death and resurrection  

o   Continues teaching his disciples after his resurrection 

 FIRST READING -  Is 22:19-23

ü  The prophet Isaiah tells us today an event that had happened during the time Assyria had sieged Jerusalem in 701 B.C.

ü  It is about a royal butler that has done something wrong and the king removes him from his office.   

ü  His authority and office is given to Eliakim

ü  He will have the keys of the kingdom and will tie and untie and the king will accept what this man decides.   

ü  This story has been chosen by the Church for this Sunday in which we read the Gospel of Matthew on the Peter’s mission.    

ü  In the Sunday’s liturgy the key theme is given by the Gospel and according to this Gospel those who prepared the lectionary chose the first reading.    

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  138

R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
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.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
I will give thanks to your name,
because of your kindness and your truth:
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands..

v In this psalm the author gives thanks to God because he has heard him   

o   Because you heard our prayers  

o   Whenever we invoke you, your hear us  

o   We are the work of your hands.   

v When we realize that we have been heard, this stirs in us 

o   The desire to sing to adore  

v In the psalm we say that the love of God lasts forever, last Sunday we said with St. Paul that the gifts of the Lord are forever.   

GOSPEL – Mt 16:13-20

     Jesus with his disciples have arrived in Cesarea of Philippi. 

     He has a very interesting and challenging question for the disciples and for us the XXI century disciples. 

     Who do people say that I am? The answer is easy they always listen to people saying things about their Teacher, but now Jesus makes a harder question, and you who do you say that I am?  

     Jesus has made a very difficult question that it takes our life span to be able to answer it in a real  way. If we are perseverant we will find this pearl, this treasure that is to know Jesus because then our happiness will be complete  

     The Father comes to the aid of those young men who follow his Son and to one of them, Peter, He reveals the truth, Jesus is the Messiah that Israel has been waiting for so many centuries.   

     All the hopes of Israel crumble with this confession of faith, because it is impossible to believe looking at the reality:   

o   Jesus, is the Messiah? But he came from Nazareth from where nothing good can come  

o   He is a poor itinerant prophet, not accepted by the civil and religious authorities of our nation, he questions our traditions, he preaches a God full of tenderness, kindness, mercy who asks us to love above all, he even does not accept the interpretations we have made of the law which are so sacred.  He says that we have to love those dogs, foreigners who do not belong like us to the people of the election.     

o   Peter, the rock? But if he is full of fear, he panics when the authority confronts him or for the matter, any person who confronts him…  and to give to Peter the keys? He too impulsive, he makes decision without reflecting guided by his heart. It is true that Peter makes mistakes, but he is not mistaken in what is essential, that is his inconditional love for Jesus in spite of his weakness. The Lord will be forming him and helping him to discover how poor and vulnerable he is, but how much trust he has in Jesus.   

     Who is Jesus for me, for you, for us the Church, the community of the followers?   During this week we may meditate on this question, take it to the reality of our life, the life of the XXI century community, who do our contemporaries say that Jesus is? And, do our behavior influence this answer?     

SECOND READING  – Rom 11:33-36

·       Usually during the ordinary time, the second reading does not have the same theme as the first and Gospel have, but this week it coincides perfectly.  

·       Paul exclaims with admiration meditating in the unfathomable wisdom of God. 

·       And he asks, who has known the mind of God? Or, to whom has He asked for counsel?  

·       Let us think in today’s Gospel  

·       God does not ask us for counsel because He is the Creator; everything was made by Him and for Him, as we say about Jesus, His incarnate Word.   

·       If the wisdom of God chooses Peter because He has created him for this mission, even if Peter did not know it, as we do not know either what is our mission, until after praying, asking advice, and dialoguing with our Teacher, we discover it and following it we find the happinness we were looking for.    

CLARETIAN CORNER 

… My second Apostles ought to be a living copy of the first, both in name as in deeds.  With the torch of the Gospel in hand, they are to light the way for the most wise and ignorant men (she speaks of Claret)

… Most Reverend Father Claret because it is he who God Our Lord has chosen so that among the Saints of his Church a light will emerge that as a clear and shining star will illuminate and gladden the dark and tenebrous night of this ignorant century (that I think that those who are most blind call an illustrated century). 

… This is the Angel that St. John saw in heaven with the Gospel in hand to evangelize all men and tell all:  Fear the Lord, and give him the honor that is due.  This is that apostolic man who is to once again put into practice the Lord’s Holy Law..(she speaks of Claret)  Venerable María María Antonia París. “Plan for the Renewal of the Church ,” 59-61 in Paris y Claret Two Pens Guided by The Same Spirit,ch.3) 

 

The Prelate has to provide the corporal goods to his parishioners,   in the following way:  1^st  Visiting and helping the poor, the sick and the prisoners.   2nd  Helping, even when they are healthy, the poor, the orphans, the widows and the elderly,  using that occasion to instruct them in religion and in the reception of the sacraments.    3rd Helping the orphans and abandoned to get an art, an office or to choose a status, realizing that the Prelate is the father of the poor.  4th To welcome with joy the pilgrims, in a special way if they are clerics or religious, realizing that in their person he is welcoming Christ himself.  

Saint Anthony Mary Claret. “Notes of a Plan to Keep   the Beauty of the Church and Defend Her Against Errors” text taken from ch.3 section about the Laity.  Paris and Claret, Two Pens Guided by The Same Spirit.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BARKER, John R. – BELLINGER, Karla J. Living the Word – Year A.

GUIJARRO OPORTO, Santiago. Introducción y comentario al Evangelio de Mateo.  Comentario al Nuevo Testamento, 1995.      

MUÑOZ, M.Hortensia y TUTZO, Regina, Misioneras Claretianas. Paris y Claret Two Pens Guided by The Same Spirit.    2010

SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión Oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española, Madrid 2012.