28 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – B – 2021
« This
Sunday the readings for the liturgy speak about true wisdom, the wisdom that
comes from God.
In the Gospel we will read how Jesus shows
to the young man, who asks him about eternal life, the way to perfect happiness
and true wisdom.
FIRST READING: Wis 7:7-11
Ø In
the verses 1 to 6 of this chapter, the King introduces himself and confesses
that he is like everybody else.
Ø And thus,
he prays to obtain the wisdom he needs to live his mission of king of Israel.
Ø The
text that follows, beginning on verse 7 is very similar to what we find in 1 Kg
3 about the dream of Solomon at Gabaon, where God tells him to ask whatever he
wishes, and the only thing Solomon wishes is wisdom to govern his people.
Ø He
mentions first prudence and afterwards he speaks of wisdom.
Ø He
prefers it to
o
royal
power
o
wealth, which is nothing compared to her
o
the most precious stones
o
gold, which compared to wisdom, is like the
sand
silver, which is like
mud, compared to wisdom
Ø He
prefers her to health and beauty
Ø He
chose her as the light to guide him
Ø And
he says, that with her came all that is good for him.
Ø Because
in her hands there are innumerable riches.
Ø What
a beautiful text, which describes the wisdom that comes from God.
Ø With wisdom freedom is given to us.
Freedom, which helps us to overcome all the ties from our fears, sins,
envies, laziness.
Ø Alonso
Schökel writes in his commentary found on the Bible of our People:
The wisdom of God cannot
be recognized if we do not become reconciled with our human nature, and from
there to consider it as a gift from God, a gift which surpasses all the other
goods which man might acquire. It is a gift, which as every gift grows as we
share it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM– Ps 90
ü This
psalm is a meditation on the value of time.
ü In the
verses we will sing on Sunday, we ask God to have mercy on us, that his
kindness may descend upon us.
ü The
last verse helps us to understand that at the end, man will be what he had
worked on himself and what God had done on him.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R Fill
us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
Make us glad, for the days when you afflicted us,
for the years when we saw evil.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for
joy!
Let your work be seen by your servants
and your glory by their children;
and may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill
us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
GOSPEL
Mk 10:17-30
« Jesus
continues the journey to Jerusalem.
« A
man approaches him; he is very much interested to speak to Jesus.
« He
wants to know, what he must do to obtain eternal life. This is a very valid question.
« John
Paull II in his encyclical Veritatis
Splendor (the Splendor of Truth) says that this is a vital question, which
every human being has and wishes to find an answer.
« It
is not a question about laws and rules; it is an existential question about how
to live.
« Jesus
reminds the man that only God is good. Yes, we are faced with our God, who is
incredibly good and kind.
« The
answer of Jesus is about the teaching of the Law, to enter eternal life keep
the commandments.
What commandments? All those we call the commandments of the
second stone, which have to do with our relationship with our neighbors: you shall not kill (5) you shall not commit
adultery (6) you shall not steal (7) you shall not bear false witness (8) you
shall not covet what belongs to you neighbor (9-10) you shall respect your
father and mother (4).
The man has lived according to these
commandments since his youth. We do not know if this man is a mature man or a
young man.
« The
dialogue takes a different turn now:
Jesus looks at the man with love and offers him
something else, he reveals to the man the true richness, that he is
missing:
§ Leave
all that you have, but do not throw it away, instead, sell it
§ Give
this money to the poor, so that your possessions will help others
§ Afterwards,
come and follow me. You can only follow me if you leave everything behind.
§ Only
the following of Jesus is what gives meaning to “leave, sell and give”.
We have been told that this man is rich. The
riches are not bad since they come from the goods of creation, which have God
as the author.
The riches are bad when they become our god, and
we cannot live anymore without them.
This man is rich, he is unable to discover the
beauty, the wisdom that Jesus offers him.
Thus, he goes away sad, he was joyful and ready
when he came but he heard what he did not want to hear.
« Now
Jesus looks at his disciples and
He tells them how difficult it is for the one
who has his heart fixed on riches to enter the kingdom of God.
They are surprised, but Jesus says to them that
man is not able to do this, but God can do it.
Jesus uses one of his exaggerations to help us
understand his point, the camel, and the needle.
Peter asks, probably in the name of all of them,
“what will we have at the end since we have left everything behind to follow
you.”
You will have one hundred fold in this life for
each thing you have left behind, but this will be accompanied by persecutions,
that are difficulties and sufferings.
You will have eternal life in the “future world.”
SEGUNDA LECTURA:
Heb 4,12-13
ü The
Word of God is not like man’s word, which is changing and sometimes false.
ü The
Word of God is living and effective; it does what it says, the Word is
creative.
ü Sharper
than any two-edged sword, the word discerns between good and bad. It does not
act on appearances but from the deepest recesses of our truth.
ü Nothing
is concealed for her; her light illumines everything; nothing and nobody can
escape from her.
Verse 13 ends saying that we will give an account of our life to her. Yes, we will give an account of our truth and our lie to her.
CLARETIAN CORNER
My occupations are right now the Holy ministry. In Paris, the capital of France and the
Babylon of the world, I have preached one day every week during the whole season
of lent. My sermons were on the observance of the Law of God. I listened to many confessions, gave Communion
and Confirmation with the approval of the Archbishop of Paris.
With the pretext to participate in the Mass for the 50th
of the Pope I went to Rome. I had fulfilled my duties with the Church, the Queen and others from the
Court. When I said goodbye I told her that when she will not be Queen anymore, she could not give me orders and
I would not be obliged to obey her.
Since I arrived here, I have preached every
Sunday to a community, I have confessed and given Communion every day. The
weather here is not good for my health; I have been here in three different
occasions; the first I became ill, in the second I did not feel well and in the
third, I have suffered much because of the weather. Now, that it is hot, I feel much better. I am very busy with the preparation of the
Council, since I have been and seen so many places they ask me many things, and
this keeps me very busy. I hope that good
things will come from this Council; I hope you remember what I wrote in the little
book called “The Notes.”
We can say that the designs the Lord had for me
have been fulfilled. Blessed be God! Hopefully!
they have been to God’s liking.
Kind regards to the Penitentiary, Fr. Currius, the clergy and the nuns
and to you from your servant and chaplain.
Antonio María Archbishop of Trajanópolis
(second part of the letter 283, of the Letters from the Origin)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALVAREZ, Jesús, cmf. History of the Religious
of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, 1980.
PAGOLA, José A. Following in the Footsteps of Jesus –
Meditations on the Gospel for Year B.
RAVASI, GIANFRANCO. Según las Escrituras – Año B. Traducido por Justiniano Beltrán. Bogotá
2005.
RR. de MARIA INMACULADA MISIONERAS CLARETIANAS. Cartas de los Origenes (Letters
of the Origins) 2009
SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. LA BIBLIA DE
NUESTRO PUEBLO. Misioneros Claretianos. China 2008.
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