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: 1st 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.
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