SEVENTH SUNDAY IN
ORDINARY TIME – C – 2022
Ø
Today’s
theme is love; to love all men and women our brothers and sisters, because we
belong to the same family since there is only one Father and Creator of
all.
FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL
ü
There are two books of Samuel, first and second
in the Bile.
ü
We have already mentioned in other commentaries
something about the First book of Samuel.
ü
Today I would like to share about its history
and time.
o
The social context of Samuel's years is that of
the transition from a tribal organization to the establishment of an organized
monarchy
o
There were continuous wars of peoples who wished
to have a monopoly on power.
o
The Philistines were in the south coast, they
had the monopoly of iron. The country that had iron was in advantage in
relation to the other countries.
o
The Ammonites in Moab and Edom also in the
south, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea
o
And in the North the Aramean kingdoms were being
organized.
o
The two dominant Powers that influenced the
configuration of these small kingdoms were Egypt in the South and Assyria in
the North.
ü
The writer's dominant concern was the question
of the monarchy
o
The monarchy was urged by the human initiative
of the elders, representatives of the tribes, and the socio-political contour
of the environment.
o
However, this initiative received an explicit as
well as a hinted severe critique, for not having considered either the
sovereignty or the will of God.
o
Thus, the divine election of the two first
monarchs and their unction by the prophet Samuel wanted to make clear that the
supreme sovereign is God who has the supreme lordship.[1]
ü Let us see in the first reading the encounter of David and Saul. David is persecuted to death by Saul.
FIRST READING 1 Sm 26:2,
7-9, 12-13, 22-23
v
King Saul persecutes David. During the night
Saul rests in company of his officials
v
David who is fleeing from the King arrives at
the place where Saul is sleeping with his soldiers
v
The soldier who accompanies him proposes to kill
the King while he is sleeping since nobody has seen or heard them.
v
He presented this possibility as coming from
God.
v
David rejects the proposition because he says,
who can kill the anointed of the Lord without incurring in sin?
v
This story and David’s words are in direct
relation with today’s gospel reading, where Jesus invites us to love everyone even our enemy.
v Do I love my enemies, those who have hurt me? Let us pray God to grant us the gift to forgive and love our enemies.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
R (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my
being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget
not all his benefits.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all
your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you
with kindness and compassion.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to
anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he
requite us according to our crimes.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has
he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD
has compassion on those who fear him.
R The Lord is kind and merciful.
§
Psalm 103(102) that the liturgy has chosen as
responsorial psalm, is a psalm that praises the mercy of God, that is his
unconditional love.
§
The first stanza is an invitation made to us to
praise the Lord and do not forget his gifts.
§
The second is an explanation of these gifts: he
forgives our sins, heals our illnesses, saves us from the tomb giving life
eternal and he fills us with love and tenderness.
§ The
third stanza is a description of what God is like: compassionate, merciful,
slow to get angry, generous in forgiving, not vindictive. He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
§
He is a compassionate Father toward those who love him, but I think that he is
also loving and compassionate toward those who do not love him, since only his
love can make them come back, convert.
GOSPEL
- Lc 6: 27-38
I
do not know if we could say that the teaching of Jesus in this gospel is the
most difficult of all he has taught us.
We
always say that to follow Jesus is to go counterculture and to be treated as naïve, deluded people, that is, people nonrealistic and dreamers.
Dreamers,
yes, because only dreaming about a world like the kingdom of God to which Jesus
came to invite us, will be able to cooperate with the Lord to make it a reality
in his/her life and environment.
Jesus
tells us “Love your enemies”, love those who have harmed you.
He
continues saying Give to everyone who asks of you, and
from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
He
says also to treat others the way we want to be treated.
Afterwards
Jesus makes us realize that if we love, or pardon or help those who are “ours”.
What do we do extraordinary or different.
He
has come to offer us something different love your enemies. He has given
us the example during his life and especially on the cross where he died for
us.
Thus, you will
have a great reward and will be children of the Most High, because he is good
even with the bad and the ungrateful. Be merciful as your Father is
merciful.
And in the last
paragraph we read these other words from Jesus, do not judge, do not
condemn, give without measure, because with the same measure you use, you will
be measured.
Let us pray the
Lord to grant us the grace and the strength to forgive those who harm us or
those whom we love.
SECOND READING - 1 Cor 15:45-49
o Scripture says that the first man Adam, became a living being, the
last Adam (Jesus) a life-giving
spirit.
o Today’s text end with these words Just as we have borne the image of
the earthly one,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.
o Beautiful text, although it can sometimes seem difficult to understand.
o The first man, Adam, becomes a living being when God breathes upon him
his divine breath, the second Jesus gives spirit and life.
o Only Jesus can make this change, he has come to give us life and life in
abundance.
o Only the life he gives to us will enable us to live according to the
Gospel and love everyone those who love us and those who harm or harmed us.
CLARETIAN CORNER
MOTHER FOUNDRESS
Since then our Lord has given me the grace to have him ever present, and
to have very intimate communication with Hid Divine Majesty, especially with
the Most Holy Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Blessed sacrament.
There were so many tokens of love shown by our Lord to this miserable sinner
that many times I was obliged to exclaim: “enough, Lord enough! You either
widen my heart or put an end to these attentions of love.».[2]
FATHER
FOUNDER
I was trained so
well in obedience and resignation that I was always content with whatever was
done, decided, or given to me by way of food or clothing. I never remember
saying "I don't like this" or "I want that." I was so used
to thinking like this that even later, when I was a priest, my mother, who was
always very fond of me, used to say, "Anthony, would you like this?"
I would always answer, "I always like what you like."
"But," she would say, "there are always some things we like
better than others." And then I'd say, "Whatever you give me is what
I like best of all." And so she died without finding out what material
things I liked the best.[3]
BIBLIOGRAFÍA
CLARET, San
Antonio Maria. Autobiografía.
PARIS,
Venerable María Antonia. Autobiografía
CONFERENCIA EPISCOPAL ESPAÑOLA. Sagrada Biblia.
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