18 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME -  CYCLO B – 2021

Ø  Last Sunday  we began the reading  of chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. The chapter that reflects on the Bread of Life.    

Ø  John does not have in his gospel the narration of the institution of the Eucharist, but he devotes chapter 6 to Jesus, the Bread of Life.     

THE BOOK OF EXODUS

The second book of the Pentateuch is called Exodus, from the Greek word for “departure”, because its central event was understood by the translators of the Hebrew Bible to Greek to be the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. In Hebrew the title is Shemoth, which means “names” from the book’s opening phrase “These are the names of the sons of Israel…” continuing the history of Israel from the point where the Book of Genesis leaves off. It tells the story of God’s liberation of Israel. The content of the book are: persecution of Jacob’s descendants in Egypt; birth and call of Moses, the Liberator; the plagues; establishment of Passover; crossing of the sea which liberates the people of Israel from slavery; wilderness wandering; covenant making at Sinai. (Little Rock Catholic Study Bible p. 145)

FIRST READING  – Ex 16: 2-4, 12-15

Ø  God has liberated Israel from the slavery in Egypt by means of Moses, helped by  his brother Aaron and his sister Mary. 

Ø  Now faced with the difficulties of living in the desert, which separates them from the promised land where they are heading, that people complain, and need to blame someone, and it blame Moses and his brother and sister, who convinced them to leave Egypt.   

Ø  It is a natural reaction of the human beings, to blame others for the negative things that happen to them.   

Ø  The Israelites were used to be slaves, to do what they were told, and to eat well to be able to work, and now they complain. They did not know the high price of freedom. 

Ø  Maybe we complain when things do not go as we wish, and we question God. Why You do not do anything? Why you do not eliminate those who are opposed to what is good?  Where are you when those things happen…? When we speak like that, we forget that we have been created free, with all the positive and negative consequences of this gift, the most precious that God has given to us.   

Ø  However, God rich in mercy has patience with his people, and he gives them the food they ask for. He gives them meat and bread. 

Ø  An unusual bread, they call mana which means “what is it?”.   They had to collect early in the morning only what they needed for the day. If they collected more than needed it was wasted.   

Ø  Maybe this is happening nowadays, whenever we accumulate goods which we do not need, and in so doing we deprive others from what is theirs, because the earth was given to all,  not to some.

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Ps 77:3 y 4bc. 23-24. 25 y 54

R. (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
What we have heard and know,
and what our fathers have declared to us,
We will declare to the generation to come
the glorious deeds of the LORD and his strength
and the wonders that he wrought.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
He commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven;
he rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountains his right hand had won.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven. 

Ø  The reflection, which this psalm does about the history of God’s people, is like a parable, which can be perceived between lines.   

Ø  At the end we know the meaning of the parable: Israel is the flock taken out of Egypt (vv. 52-454) and entrusted to David  (vv. 70-72.)

Ø  Besides, the psalmist introduces us to the wonderful action of God and to a people which does not understand.  This people favored by God, liberated, taken from slavery repeatedly continues to mistrust.   This same situation is found in the Gospel. Maybe,  we mistrust also.  

GOSPEL   Jn 6: 24-35

Ø  The people has eaten the bread which Jesus has given them, when they do not see him, they look for him. 

Ø  Jesus helps them to discover the truth that is in their hearts: they look for him not because of the sign that Jesus has performed, but because they have eaten bread without having to do anything to get it. 

Ø  The Gospel of John calls the miracles, signs. Signs of what? Of the presence and work of God in the midst of his people and, in the young prophet Jesus, whom we acknowledge as the Son of God.    

Ø  Jesus exhorts them not to work for what perishes. 

Ø  Those men and women want to know what they have to do, to perform the work of God. We also want to know what we have to do.   

Ø  We like to do because it gives the satisfaction to have the control of our life in our hands, so that we do not depend on somebody else, either human, or God.  

Ø  But the answer of Jesus is confusing, and we do not like it, like they did not either. Now they begin to show their aggressivity and pride.  

Ø  The only thing we must do is to believe, what? Who? In the one, the Father God has sent… what works do you do so that we may be able to believe in you? But have they already forgotten that they ate bread without cost?   

Ø  Yes, Moses gave to the people the bread of life to eat. However, it was not Moses, but my Father, and now I have given you food to eat.   “I am the Bread of life. “   

Ø  He who comes to me will never be hungry and he who believes in will never be thirsty.  

Ø  What a mystery, the human heart! How inscrutable the mystery of God’s mercy! 

LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

The letter has been written most likely by a secretary or later disciple of Paul. It is the great letter about the Church, but not so much a congregation in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor as with the worldwide church, the head of which is Christ, the purpose of which is to be the instrument for making God’s plan of salvation known throughout the universe. This ecclesiology  is anchored in God’s saving love, shown in Jesus Christ; and the whole of redemption is rooted in the plan and accomplishment of the triune God. (Little Rock Catholic Study Bible p. 2395.)

SECOND READING  Eph 4: 17. 20-24

Ø  The first thing that we are told is, not to act like pagans. 

Ø  Because it is not what we have learned from Christ, from Him we have learned the truth.  

Ø  We are invited to put way our old self, that is our wrong past; and to renew our spirit and our mind and to put on the new self.   

Ø  In baptism we have been transformed to live Christ life.   

CLARETIAN CORNER

From  Archbishop Anthony Mary Claret to  Mother María Antonia París – Letter 260

J.M.J

Madrid, April 9 April 1867

 

Dear Mother in J.C., I have received you letter from the 7 of this month and after reading it I have to tell you that I hope that through the Deputy from Reus we will obtain sooner the permission for the foundation we want so much.  You cannot imagine how much I have worked together with the Minister, the Minister’s Office, and on seeing that the more we worked the more it was delayed, this has been the motif to go to the Deputy and I do not doubt it will have a positive outcome, God willing.     

As for my health it is not bad, but I have felt better in other occasions, now I have a strong cold.  Blessed be God. However, this does not prevent me from  working , I will rest after Easter, because since Sunday before Carnival until the day of Sorrows I have not had a day of rest preaching and confessing continually in Missions and Spiritual Exercises, in Madrid; we have to take advantage of this truce the Lord has given to us.    

I anxiously desire to go to Heaven to see Jesus loved and praised by the Heavenly Court, for me this will be the greatest joy and satisfaction I hope to have, more than the glory the mercy of God could give me;   so that I desire to go to Heaven not for me, but to see God, Jesus and the Most Blessed Mother, the Angels and the glorified Saints; now the Lord is leading me through the way of sorrows and displeasures, they are quite strong; but the help the Lord gives is also strong. Blessed be God.   

I know that you also have your little tribulations, of which I am pleased, the best embellishment of a spouse of Jesus are the sufferings and works, in fact, Jesus is the man of sorrows. The Blessed Mother is the Queen of Martyrs, the more resemblance, the more friendship.

 As for the Bishop, do not worry, when things have the testimony of a good conscience, there is nothing else but resignation with the will of God, who wants us to accept this disgust.  

Please give my kind regards to the Nuns and all of you please pray for me to God. Your affectionate servant and chaplain.   

 Anthony Mary Archbishop of Trajanópolis

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO, Adaptación del texto y comentarios de Luis Alonso Schökel.

LITTLE ROCK CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE, 2019.

RR. MARIA INMACULADA MISIONERAS CLARETIANAS, Cartas de los Orígenes (Letters of the Origins), 2009. (I have translated the letter.)

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RR. DE MARIA INMACULADA MISIONERAS CLARETIANAS. Cartas de los Orígenes (Letters of the Origins) 2009

LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO, Adaptación del text and commentaries by Luis Alonso Schökel.

 LITTLE ROCK CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE - 2019

 

17th – SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  – B – 2021

Ø  Last Sunday God, by the mouth of prophet Jeremiah, promised to Israel that he will give them shepherds that will really take care of the sheep.  

Ø  Today we see this shepherd, that is Jesus. Mark will say that Jesus felt compassion because they saw the people like sheep without a shepherd.   

Ø  Let us see what the Lord says to us today through the following readings.  

THE BOOKS OF KINGS

ü  We find in our bibles two books of Kings, the first and the second.   

ü  In the Hebrew Bible they are organized in a different way  

ü  In our Catholic Bible these two books are situated after the two books of Samuel and before the two books of Chronicles.    

ü  The first book narrates   

o   The succession of Solomon to the throne of David.    

o   The kinship of Solomon. The author has a great interest in presenting the grandiosity of this kingdom and Solomon’s wisdom.  

o   After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided between his two sons.   

o   The Synchronic narration of the life of these two kingdoms: Israel in the North and Judah in the South.  

o   The cycle of Elijah, the great prophet.   

ü  The second book narrates   

o   The continuation of the synchronic narration of the history of both kingdoms until the fall of Israel. 

o   After the fall of Israel, the author continues to narrate the history of Judah until its fall.   

o   The cycle of the prophet Elisha, Elijah’s disciple. 

o   The fall of the Kingdom of Judah.   

FIRST READING -  2 Kgs 4:42-44

v  Somebody brings to Elisha 20 barley loaves and some grains

v  Elisha orders the man to give the loaves to the people that are there.   

v  The one who brought the loaves, a servant, exclaims, impossible, probably he thinks that 20 loaves are not enough for 100 people. He thinks with a human mind.  

v  Elisha insists to distribute the loaves among the people. The reason for that is because God has said that there will even be leftovers.

v  There are situations in our lives when we think that everything is lost, we think with a human logic and we probably are right, but in that situation trust in our Creator and God    has to enter in our life, because there is something else, not something but someone else.     

v  After doing everything that is in our human capacity, we need to trust and walk in the darkness confident that someone goes with us, and with his light some day we will see. This someone is Jesus who has said to us “I will be with you always until the end of time.”   

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18

R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
    and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
    and speak of your might.
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.

v  This is a psalm of praise to our God and Lord who provides to preserve the life he has given to us.   

v  The first stanza is an invitation to praise God who takes care of us. 

v  The second stanza says something that made me think:  you open your hand
    and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

v  I asked myself, then, why is there so much hunger on our planet?  Humans and animals die from hunger…  How can we explain this?  How can the Word of God say in the psalm “you give them their food in due season.”

v  Maybe, we can find the explanation in our human selfishness that, moves us to accumulate, while others are in need. The earth and its fruits were given by God to all, not only to some.   

v  If we are attentive to the silent and invisible presence of our God, we will discover how many wonders happen around us, most of the time,  in very small things.

v  How many persons do good to others.   

GOSPEL– Jn 6:1-15

      This Sunday we will read the multiplication of the loaves narrated in the Gospel of John.  

      Although John, generally, uses a very peculiar and different way to narrate than the other evangelists, this text is very similar to the others. .   

      The four evangelists narrate the first multiplication of the loaves, in which Jesus feeds five thousand men with two fish and five loaves. Matthew and Mark narrate a second multiplication of the loaves where Jesus feeds 4000 men with seven loaves and some small fish.(Mk 8, Mt 15:32-39)

      If we pay attention as we read it, we perceive in this gospel an echo of the first reading.  

      A large crowd follows Jesus because they have seen the signs (miracles) the cures…   

      They come, according to the text, because they have seen the marvels made for the sick.   

      We may probably be right in saying that a large number comes because Jesus has done something good for them. 

      Jesus has come to this place because he wants that his friends rest, and he also needs to rest.   

      Jesus sees the crowd coming toward him, and he forgets about his resting. Instead he asks Philip, where can we find bread to feed to feed this crowd.   

      The answer seems the copy of the answer of Elisha’s servant, it is impossible to feed so many people.  

      Another disciple, willing to help, says there is here a boy with five loaves and two fish, and he adds, but what is this for so many people?   

      They have looked for solutions, they have tried, then when they have exhausted all the possibilities

      Jesus does what he had already thought, but he wanted those men, his friends to act on their own and look for solutions, as they will have to do later in their missions, in their service to others.  

      Jesus gives the bread to the crowd until they are satisfied, and they collect 12 baskets of leftovers.     

      The last paragraph is left for our own reflection and meditation.   

SECOND READING  – Ef 4:1-6

v  Paul is in prison, he is a prisoner for the Lord, as he says. 

v  In  prison, he has reflected and thought in his communities, the communities he has established. He feels the need to continue accompanying them in their first steps, like a mother does with her child.        

v  He invites them to behave in a way worthy of their vocation.  

v  And he gives a list of the necessary virtues for the human and fraternal relationships. At the end he says, “striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace” How much we need union and peace. We are called to be promoters of peace.  

v  The second paragraph is a call to unity.

CLARETIAN CORNER

FROM Mª ANTONIA PARÍS TO SAINT ANTHONY MARY CLARET

To Most Rev. Anthony Mary Claret,  Archbishop

House of Mary Most Holy - Tremp Teaching Sisters,  March 20 1867

My dear Father in Our Lord Jesus Christ, on due time I have received your letter from the 2nd of the present month, it has given a great consolation for me; and I have delayed my response to you because I was expecting the letter from the Bishop, which has not arrived until today. He tells me that from what I have written to him and still more from what the Archbishop of Tarragona says to him, he sees that it is necessary that we go to Reus. 

 […]

Please let me know if we need a passport to go to Reus, we needed one to go to Cuba, but being Reus so close maybe it is not required; if it is, please tell me who must do it and what are the steps to follow, because being the bishop away, it is difficult to ask him.   

If Your Excellency sees the bishop tell him that if he cannot obtain the approval of our Constitutions, at least try to obtain from His Holiness permission to admit to the first profession, those who have entered the Order without dowries, those who might not have them, because this will avoid the difficulties that any Prelate might have. I ask your Excellency to pray God insistently and Mary Most Holy to obtain this grace of the approval of our Constitutions; we always pray for you.    

Receive the most affectionate and sincere respects of all your humble and obedient Daughters, while the most unworthy of all asks your holy and paternal blessing.   

Mª Antonia de San Pedro, religious

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RR. María Inmaculada Misioneras Claretianas. Cartas de los orígenes 259. Madrid 2009. (I have made the translation)

Conferencia Episcopal Española. Sagrada Biblia, versión oficial. Madrid 2012.