16 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Ø  Last Sunday we heard how Amos, the shepherd and peasant was called and sent to prophesize. 

Ø  In the Gospel Jesus sent his apostles to proclaim that the Kingdom of God was at hand.  

Ø  Today God says, by means of the prophet Jeremiah, that God himself will pasture his sheep. 

PROPHET JEREMIAH

Jeremiah is a prophet who lives in his own flesh the drama of an absolute fidelity to God and an absolute solidarity with the rebel and deserter people, to whom, out of fidelity to his vocation, he has to announce the catastrophe to which its sins have led it.   

FIRST READING   Jer 23: 1-6

v The prophet, as the Word of God, speaks to the priests, the King of the people accusing them for not taking care of their people. 

v Thus, God himself will take care of all the needs of his sheep.  

v  He announces that in the future he will give them a King, a descendent from   David’s family, one who will be a good shepherd that will care for each one of his sheep. 

v  This King, this shepherd, will make the law and justice be observed. 

v  And  Israel will live in peace; peace which is always the fruit of justice.

Responsorial Psalm                                            Ps 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6

R. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; THERE IS NOTHING I SHALL WANT.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
    he refreshes my soul.
R. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; THERE IS NOTHING I SHALL WANT..
He guides me in right paths
    for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
    I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
    that give me courage.
R. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; THERE IS NOTHING I SHALL WANT.
You spread the table before me
    in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
R. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; THERE IS NOTHING I SHALL WANT.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
    all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
    for years to come.
R. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; THERE IS NOTHING I SHALL WANT.

Ø  Psalm of personal trust, structured i two scenes: the shepherd and the host. 

Ø  These two scenes are paralleled.     

 

In verdant pastures he gives me repose	You spread the table before me
Even though I walk in the dark valley	in the sight of my foes;
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want	my cup overflows
… with your rod and your staff     that give me courage	Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life
beside restful waters he leads me;	… I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come

 

Ø  We perceive in this psalm the experience of the Exodus from Egypt, to which the return from the exile in Babylon is a similar experience. 

Ø  The symbol of the shepherd is also present in the New Testament, being Jesus the Good Shepherd.  

 

GOSPEL, Mk 6:30-34

      The disciples Jesus had sent have returned and they want to tell Jesus what had happened. 

      They are full of joy, they want to tell more and more, but the people, who know that they are in the house with Jesus come and go continually seeking Jesus for help.  

      Jesus and the apostles do not have time even to eat. 

      And Jesus invites the apostles to go to a deserted place with him to rest and share together. All the evangelizers, priests,  laymen, laywomen and consecrated persons need time also for a more intimate sharing among them and with the Teacher.  

      They embark to go to enjoy a time of rest, a short vacation,  but the people saw them and arrived before them 

      Mark tells us in his gospel that Jesus felt compassion and instead of resting he began to teach them, because he saw them like sheep without a shepherd.    

      What does this gospel tell us, baptized people from the XXI century?    

SECOND READING   Eph 2:13-18

v  The Lord has made of both of us one  people, a people of Jews and Gentiles all redeemed by the blood of Christ, all fed with the same body-bread which is Christ. 

v  In his own body destroyed on the cross he broke down the barrier of hostility that divided us. 

v  And we are obstinate in rebuilding again this barrier, in nurturing hate among races, cultures, groups of all sorts. 

v  On the cross he abolished le ancient law, the law made of mandates and regulations, to form with both peoples only one new man establishing peace.   

v  He ends saying that from this saving cross, from this death that filled us with life, we all can approach the Father by the Spirit which has been given to us.  

CLARETIAN CORNER

 J. M. and J.

Most Rev. Anthony Mª Claret 

Teaching Sisters, House of Mary Most Holy of Tremp,  March 14  1867

 

My dear Father in Jesus Christ Our Lord, With the usual consolation I have received your letter from the 6th of this month, together with the precious Catechism and the holy cards, I thank you for all and I thank also Our Lord for the excellent thought he put in you, to publish this so precious treasure for the whole kingdom of Spain; I wish it were so for everyone!  According to my opinion many inconveniences would disappear in something so essential as the Christian Doctrine, in which the children and the adults stumble due to the diversity of catechisms, being only one the doctrine they must understand.   I am telling you, Father, that I really rejoice because, since the moment I was able to think and understand  I  wished to see it. Blessed and praise be God forever, without end for his eternal mercies. Amen.      

 […]

I see what you have told me, of how much you have worked with all those gentlemen, and how you wrote to the Archbishop of Tarragona and the means you have planned with the Minister but,  up to now, he has not written anything from there, I do not know how to interpret this silence,  because due to the diligence of the Penitentiary this becomes very estrange to me, to the point that I fear a bad outcome, and thus I implore you deign to tell me what has Rev. Fleix responded to you, and if this business is going ahead.     

Receive the most sincere and respectful affection of all this your humble religious and daughters in Our Lord Jesus Christ and the most unworthy of them asks your holy and paternal blessing.  

Mª Antonia de San Pedro, religious

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RR. María Inmaculada Misioneras Claretianas. Cartas de los orígenes 258. Madrid 2009.

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

La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo. Luis Alonso Schökel. Editorial Claretiana 2015.