15 – SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – B – 2021   

Ø  Last Sunday Jesus was not accepted in his hometown.

Ø  Today in the first reading prophet Amos is rejected, not by his people, but by the religious authority of the temple where he has been sent to prophesize, in the Northern Kingdom, Israel.  

Ø  In the Gospel Jesus calls and sends the twelve to preach the good news of the Kingdom.  

THE PROPHET AMOS

Ø  King Solomon’s kingdom, after his death, was divided among his sons in two kingdoms: Israel in the North formed by ten of  the tribes, the other one in the South formed by the tribe of Judah called Southern Kingdom or Judah.

Ø  The prophet was from Tekoa, village 12 miles from Jerusalem and visible from Bethlehem.

Ø  According to what Amos says at the beginning of his book he was a shepherd and a farmer. 

Ø  He is known as the prophet of justice, his accusations are strong, and his words are on fire, strong and in many cases harsh and ironic as well.  

Ø  He strongly denounces the gap increasingly wider between those who own most of the riches (the house of Israel or the royal family and the aristocracy) and those who are  in need, the poor, the excluded… (the people of Israel).  

Ø  He denounces the manipulation and the fraud in the public administration as well as in the temple administration and the religious hypocrisy.   

Ø  Let us see what today’s reading says  to us 

FIRST READING  :  Amos 7:12-15

v  Bethel was the royal sanctuary of Israel, that is in the Northern Kingdom. Amos was a citizen from the Southern Kingdom, Judah.   

v  The priest from Bethel expels Amos from his temple and tells him to leave and own his living prophesizing someplace else.  In that time there were prophets that serve the King and usually told him what he wanted to hear. They were not real prophets; they were not the voice of God.   

v  Bethel means “house of God” and it is located West of Jericho and at the North of Jerusalem.  

v  Amos responds to the priest that he had never been a prophet, but the Lord took him from his flock and told him;  “Go, prophesize to my people Israel.”

v  Have we felt sometime like this prophet called and sent?   The day of our baptism we were anointed priest, prophet and King.   

v  We need to keep the connection with the Lord opened, maybe he is calling us and we do not hear him because there is much noise around us.   

v  How are we going to be prophets?  In my opinion, living our life with simplicity, doing all the good we can, the Lord will help us to see ways to make him known  and share our life of friendship with Him.   

v  Responsorial Psalm- Ps 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14

R. (8)    Lord, let us see your kindness,

and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
    the LORD —for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
    glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness,

 and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
    justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
    and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness,

and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
    our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
    and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness,

and grant us your salvation.

 

ü  The psalm we will sing or recite next Sunday, is a petition to see God’s mercy, to experience it.   

ü  There are in this psalm some verses that invite us to reflect in silent prayer, allowing them to change our heart helping us to open it to God.   

o   Mercy and truth meet, maybe mercy and truth are the same reality?  

o   Justice and peace kiss, we could say heaven and earth kiss.  Heaven bends to kiss the earth, the Son, the Word of God embraces, kisses our flesh in such a way that John can say, “the Word was made flesh.”    

GOSPEL -  Mk 6:7-13

      Jesus calls the twelve, like in the first reading God called Amos. 

      And Jesus sends them, like God sent Amos.   

      He sends them two by two and gives them power over evil.  

      He tells them how they must go in that mission  

      They must leave without provisions, without temporal securities, only having their trust in the one who sent them.   

      When they will arrive where people are, a home, stay there and share your peace with them. 

      If they do not welcome you, or they do not listen to you, leave from that place without accepting or taking anything.  

      Jesus sends them to the mission in poverty, trusting only in the power of the one Who sent them. Without feeling superior over the other persons to whom they are sent, they do not have to carry anything extra, only what they need, they go two by two to help each other and to give the testimony of collaborative fraternity.  

      I have read in a commentary “… the priority for these missionaries is the proclamation of the Kingdom not the search for comfort.”  

      They left, they preached the good news, anointed the sick and they were cured, and they expelled demons.   

      The church, we who form it, continue this same mission but we describe it with different names, and we use other methods: 

o   The church preaches the gospel in the mass, in popular missions, in classes with persons of all ages and conditions and through the life of those who formed it.  

o   The church anoints the sick with the sacred oil, but she also anoints the spirit of those who suffer, listening with love and compassion.   

o   The church expels demons, in the sacrament of forgiveness and when we forgive one another as the Father forgives each one of us.   

SECOND READING – Ef 1:3-10

Blessed be God, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, why?   

o   He has blessed us   

o   He has chosen us in Christ before the world began    

o   And he has done this in order that we be holy as He is holy, that we become his children   

o   He has favored us in his beloved Son, Jesus  

o   Because we have received redemption in the blood of Jesus    

o   With redemption we have received the forgiveness of all our sins    

o   He has revealed to us the plan he had set  forth in Christ for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ. 

v Luis Alonso Schökel says “This blessing is to be listened to in the liturgical prayer of the assembly  […]   This is God’s Project, that was hidden and now it has been revealed through the death and resurrection of Christ. This hymn is the introduction of  the letter and gives to the whole letter a tone of prayer, adoration and celebration which summarizes all its chapters.”  

CLARETIAN CORNER 

J.M.J

                                                                                                                                                      

To Mother Maria Antonia

 

Madrid, January 9 1867

 

My dear Mother in Our Lord Jesus Christ:  I have received the letter you mentioned in your letter of  [January] 3. In response to it I must tell you that today I have received the file of the documents sent by the Archbishop of Tarragona. And I have personally visited the Minister to put into his hands this file, and I have asked him its prompt dispatch; now what is needed is to pray a lot so that the devil will not hinder it.     

 

From the 27th of last month and the 7th of the present month, I have been at the Escorial, far from this Babylon of Madrid; in this Court people oppress me a lot.  There is nothing but to offer it to Baby Jesus. O, how much I want to leave the Palace! I wish!!!! Like the Magi that left Jerusalem to adore Jesus in Bethlehem, and from there continue through the way of the missions. For this has the Lord created me and not to be a courtier; for me the Royal Palace is my exile, my torment.   

 

Pray for me to God and also tell the Nuns to do the same, so that the Lord may grant me to know what I have to do. My kind regards to all, and count on your servant and chaplain.  

 

Antonio María Archbishop of Trajanopolis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RR.Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters. Cartas de los Origenes (Letters from the Origins.) Madrid

 2009

LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO – Commentaries by Luis Alonso Schökel.

LA SAGRADA BIBLIA – Traduction official de la Conferencia española de Obispos. 2010