29 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME- B – 2021 

Ø  The readings again this Sunday are about service, a service accomplished giving our life for the sake of others.  

Ø  Pope Francis says: All these saints, in different contexts, put today’s word into practice in their lives, without lukewarmness, without calculation, with the passion to risk everything and to leave it all behind. Brothers and sisters, may the Lord help us to imitate their example. (Homily of Pope Francis during the Mass of Canonization, Sunday 2018.)       

FIRST READING : Is 53:10-11

Ø  The Servant is faithful to God.  On verso 10 Isaiah says that the Servant has been crushed, tortured not for his own sins but for the sins of others.       

Ø  Through his suffering, and the offering of his life the Servant will see his descendants in a long life.   For the people of Israel and for other peoples, a long life was a sign of God’s blessing, for those who were pleasing to God and did his will. 

Ø  Because of his affliction, of his offering his life, the Servant will see the light. The light is always a symbol of the presence of God, of everything that is related to God, to love, to the truth.  

Ø  Through his sufferings, he will justify many, and will take away their sins.  What a beautiful description of the mission of the Servant. Very soon the Church began to consider Jesus to be that servant, who had given his life on the cross for  our salvation.

Ø  Every Sunday the Church, through the readings, invites us to follow the way of Jesus; today the invitation is to offer our life to the Lord,  so that he may unite us to his redemptive sacrifice for the sake of men and women, our brothers and sisters.   

Ø  Jesus invites us to return to the source of joy, which is the encounter with him, the courageous choice to risk everything to follow him, the satisfaction of leaving something behind in order to embrace his way. The saints have travelled this path. (Homily of Pope Francis during the Mass of Canonization,  2018.)

 

Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22

R.  Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

ü  God’s project is instantaneous, but it unfolds through history, it takes time, a long time for us to discover it and to accomplish it; but God accompanies us and protects us on our journey.   

ü  As we have recited in the psalm, the Lord loves justice and right, his goodness fills the earth.  How encouraging are these words!   

ü  The psalmist continues saying words of peace and consolation: the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope in his kindness.  

ü  The last stanza that we will pray this Sunday is like a sigh of the soul: our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield.  With such a protection whom shall we fear?   

GOSPEL Mk 10:35-45

«  In the verses before the text of today’s Gospel we have encountered the man who wanted to reach eternal life but was unable to leave behind his many possessions because he had put his security in them, and he went away sad because he had renounced to follow the good master.   

«  The disciples have heard what the recompense will be for those who leave everything behind and follow the Teacher.

«  Do we content ourselves with a few commandments or do we follow Jesus as lovers, really prepared to leave behind something for him? (Homily of Pope Francis during the Mass of Canonization, Sunday 2018.)

«  Now the two brothers, called in another place “the sons of thunder” come and ask for a treatment of preference for them. (In Matthew’s Gospel it is the mother who makes this petition to Jesus)  

«  In the glory, in the future kingdom, in the eternal life they want to sit in places of honor, they have not understood the lesson that Jesus wanted to teach to the man who wanted to reach eternal life, neither have they understood the lesson on service, which he had given some days before. The first shall be the last, and the one who wants to be the most important shall be the servant of all.  

«  This is the eternal weakness of all of us human beings, we want to be unique, the first, the most important, but we look for all of this in the wrong places, away from what God teaches us and away from what can give us happiness.      

«  Jesus assures them that they will drink from the chalice he will drink; they will accomplish what God has prepared for them.  

«  They will also be baptized, with the same baptism that Jesus himself will be baptized, his death on the cross

«  In a word, he is telling them that they will be very close to him, as they have asked, so close that they will share in his cross, but to give the important position they ask for, this is given by the Father.   I suspect that in the kingdom of the Father there are not places of honor, the only important one is God, all the rest we are servants sometimes good, sometimes unworthy.    

I want to share with you something I have read in a couple of commentaries on this Gospel.  

v  In his book From Empathy to Justice,  Fr. John DMello narrates the following story: In a school for blind boys among which many were partially blind one day one of the benefactors presented the school with some special equipment by which one of the blind boys would be able to see. Now the principal was in a quandary. There were 60 partially blind boys. To whom should she give the equipment? She asked them to write an essay in Braille: What will I do if I am given the gift of sight?      Each boy wrote what he would do and all would do something beautiful and interesting for themselves. But one boy wrote that if he was given the gift of sight, he would spend his entire life helping other blind boys to see. This was the boy that got the equipment. As the principal explained: they all had beautiful goals […] but the boy selected wanted to contribute to society. (John DMello, From Empathy to Justice” Stories and Reflections on the Gospels (Cycle B) 2018.)

v  Fr.  José Antonio Pagola in one of his commentaries says:  They are great, even if they do not know it:  Simple and good fathers that take the time to listen to their little children […]  Tireless mothers who fill their home with warm and joy. Women priceless because they know to give to their children what they need the most […]   Married couples who mature in their mutual love day by day, learning to give in, caring generously for the happiness of the other […] These unknown people made the world more habitable and life more human.   (José Antonio Pagola, El camino abierto por Jesús. Marcos. 2011) 

SECOND READING: Heb 4:14-16

ü  We have a high priest who has passed through the heavens  

ü  This priest is Jesus, the Son of God   

ü  This high priest, Jesus, can understand our condition since he has shared it with us; he knows our weaknesses, because he has also experienced the weakness of the flesh, because he has been tested in everything like us, except sin.   

ü   The author of the letter invites us to come close to the throne of grace, of mercy to find help.   

o   The throne is the symbol of the authority of our high priest, symbol because in the eternal life there are no thrones, but Scripture uses these images to help us understand the message.  

o   It is a throne of grace, mercy, kindness, words used in the Old Testament to describe God who is compassion and mercy.  

CLARETIAN CORNER    

Rome, October 18 1869

 

My dear Mother in J.C.: I have received your letter from the 5th of the present month and the previous letters and writings as well. You probably know that Most Rev. Fr. Reig was sick during almost two months, and he died on September 20.   During his sickness he was telling me that when he would recover, he would do whatever was needed for the approval of the constitutions, but since the offices were closed and they still are, due to the vacations they call October vacations, nothing has either been done or known on the matter. Thus, I have decided to wait for the arrival of the Bishops for the Council, and then I will speak to the Bishop of Urgel how we must understand the things related to his nuns, because I am telling you frankly, I do not understand this mystery. I only tell you to be at peace and tranquil, to not worry for anything, I believe that this is the sacrifice God wants from you, leave it in the hands of Jesus and of Mary Most Holy, they will take care of it.  

Recently I have received a letter from Currius  I have answered it and I have spoken to him about you, I have sent to him the book on the Life of St. Peter Nolasco, that I wrote in Spanish and  one of the Monsignors have translated into Italian. I asked him to read it and afterward send it to you, so that you can read it, especially chapters 8 and following. We have also prepared the materials for the Council, my health regular, thanks to God.   

I know all the hardships you are suffering in that unfortunate country, so many sins that some Spaniards have committed,  they have filled the measure. We must pray a lot.      

 

Greetings to the Penitentiary and to all the Nuns and to you.  

 

Antonio María Archbishop of Trajanópolis 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DMELO, John. From Empathy to Justice” Stories and Reflections on the Gospels (Cycle B) 2018.)

PAGOLA, José Antonio, El camino abierto por Jesús. Marcos.

RR. de María Inmaculada Misioneras Claretianas, Cartas de los Orígenes (Letters from the Origins) 2009.  

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO. Misioneros Claretianos. China 2008.

The Catholic Study Bible, second edition.