22 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME –  C - 2022 

The theme of our celebration is humility, which is the same as truth and wisdom. We will listen to the words of  Ben Sirach in the first reading, and of Jesus, our teacher, in  the Gospel.   

THE BOOK OF  SIRACH OR ECCLESIASTICUS

·         It is a wisdom book which is part of the deuterocanonical books, the books of the second list.  These are the books that the people of Israel do not recognize as revealed by God, they were written in foreign lands in Greek, not in Hebrew. Our brothers and sisters from other Christian traditions do not acknowledge them either as part of the canonical books.  

·         For us in the Christian of Catholic tradition this book (Ecclesiasticus) is counted among the revealed books.  

·         It is part of the wisdom literature, so common in the Middle East.   

·         Contrary to what was believed the original book, was written not in Greek but in Hebrew by a man known as Simon son of Jesus, who was the grand- father of the man who translated the book into the Greek language. (see foreword of the Catholic Study Bible)

·         In chapter 51, the author Simon son of Jesus says that he has looked for wisdom with passion and this is the wisdom he shares with the reader.   

FIRST READING Sir 3:17-18, 20-, 28-29

The author addresses someone as "my son" It can be his real son, or it may also be the way an elder person speaks to a younger one. 

v  He gives the following counsels: 

ü  Humility, the reward of conducting oneself with humility will be the love of those who know him or her, they will love him/her more than they love those who make gifts.  

ü  If you are great, humble yourself the more.  

ü  Avoid what is beyond your possibilities  

ü  a listening ear gives joy to the wise.   

      this listening is not of anything, not of gossips, not of novelties... 

      in Scripture a listening ear means to be attentive to what God is saying to us through the events of life, through other persons and through creation, it has the same meaning as obedience.       

      The joy comes to us when we listen to God and obey him, even when we experience suffering because of that obedience, there is an inner peace.   

ü  The reading ends with the sentence " water quenches the fire, alms atone for sin."   

RESPONSORIAL PSAL - Ps  68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11

GOD, IN YOUR GOODNESS, YOU HAVE MADE A HOME FOR THE POOR.   

The just rejoice and exult before God;

they are glad and rejoice

Sing to God, chant praise to his name;

whose name is the Lord.  

GOD, IN YOUR GOODNESS, YOU HAVE MADE A HOME FOR THE POOR.   

The father of orphans and the defender of widows

is God in his holy dwelling.

God gives a home to the forsaken.

He leads forth prisoners to prosperity.

GOD, IN YOUR GOODNESS, YOU HAVE MADE A HOME FOR THE POOR.   

A bountiful rain you showered down, O God,

upon your inheritance

you restored the land when it languished,

your flock settled in it;

in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy.

GOD IN YOUR GOODNESS, YOU HAVE MADE A HOME FOR THE POOR.   

v  We are invited to cry out for joy before God

v  In his abode on high, this is how we want to express his greatness, saying that he is on high

v  This God of ours who is on high knows and loves the orphan, the widows also, that is, those who suffer for their smallness in a society that oppresses and takes advantage of them

v  The psalmist helps us to realize that God sends out generous rain.

v  Let us ask to have the desire to be like God who always seeks and inclines himself toward those who are smaller, more abandoned, more helpless.

GOSPEL - LUKE 14:1,7-14

Ø  Like on past Sundays, we hear Jesus teaching what is the Kingdom and how are we supposed to behave in the kingdom, which has already begun on earth. 

Ø  Luke tells us that Jesus recommended humility, to behave in relationship with others.  

Ø  The first reading invited us to live a simple life without ambitions or looking for what goes beyond our capacities.   

Ø  Humility according to St. Therese of Avila, is the same as truth. 

Ø  The root of this word

o   is the Latin word humus which means dust of the earth.

o   We have been made from the same matter as the rest of creation.

o   It is the transforming love of God who has transformed our mud into light,

o   into divine life which he has given to us, and which he is willing to continue giving to all and everyone.  

Ø  Let us listen to the teaching of Jesus, what he tells us as he sees the guest at the wedding looking for the first seats, those who are closer to the married couple.  

Ø  Jesus says to us:  

·         If you go to a wedding banquet do not sit at the place of honor  

·         Why? Very simple, if these sits have been assigned to other people by the owner of the house, he will ask you to move back and give your sit to the person for whom it has been reserved. 

·         You will feel shame and will have to stand up and go to a lower place.  

·         However, if you sit at the last place, then you will have the chance to move to a higher place.   

·         If we think higher of us than what we really are, we will suffer a lot of humiliations, but if we recognize who we are, simple and lowly persons created and loved by God,  then the Lord will honor us.

·         After that parable Jesus says some words that always make us wonder, because we do not fully understand what do  they mean.   

·         Do not invite those who can repay you... relatives, friends, important persons... What is wrong about inviting them to a dinner in our home? Does not friendship grow through those celebrations?   

·         Yes, but Jesus does not say that, he is simply saying that we should not take advantage of other people, inviting them to get something from them.

·         The list of guests he mentions is the image of those who cannot pay us back: lame, poor, blind... 

·         Blessed are you because they cannot repay you, it is the heavenly Father who will repay you on the last day, the day of the retribution because you have served your brothers and sisters in need.   

SECOND READING : Heb 12:18-19,22-24a

      This passage of the letter to the Hebrews, offers to us the contrast between the theophanies of the Old Covenant, and those of the New Covenant.  

      In the Old Covenant the theophanies to the patriarchs, during the exodus, and later on to the prophets,  are always described by means of terrifying natural phenomena. It is a way to explain to us that God is THE OTHER, transcendent, whom we cannot approach or touch or manipulate.   

      The description of the presence of God among us in the New Covenant are through the person of a simple man, Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth, known as the son of Joseph and of Mary, who lived a  life like the life of any Israelite of his time with simplicity and fidelity.  

      This man so simple is the Second Person of the Trinity who comes to us under kind and attractive signs.  

      This man is the mediator of the New Covenant which is so different from the Old one in its manifestations. 

CLARETIAN CORNER  

In all vocational accounts, the sacred authors begin by describing the situation in which the person called is found; sometimes they even indicate the date, the place, and certain historical conditions of the vocational episode. In the case of the Founding Mother, all these details are described in detail:

 

Year 1842. Being one night in prayer praying intensely to Christ crucified to remedy the needs of the holy Church, which on that occasion were many..., I begged him to deign to teach me what to do to give him pleasure and glory fulfilling his most holy will (Aut. ) 2)

 

As in the biblical accounts, in specifying the chronological context, Mother Foundress presents as if it were a historical event that is nothing more than a personal experience; situating the time of God’s intervention in her small personal story; that is, an event of his personal history is elevated to the category of historical event of the universal church.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALVAREZ, Jesús cmf. La Visión Inicial.

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, Commentary to the Biblia de nuestro Pueblo

PAGOLA, José A. Following in the Footsteps of Jesus. Meditations on the Gospels for Year C.

 

 

21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  – C –   2022

      The Word of God of today’s liturgy r eminds us that the Lord trusts always in humankind. 

      Let us give fruits of justice and peace on our journey.   

      Let us believe as Jesus did in the God of the impossible.

FIRST READING  Is 66:18-21

v  This text belongs to the third part of the Book of Isaiah, Third Isaiah.   The historical time is the time after the return from the exile.

v  The Lord says:

o   I know their works and their thoughts, I know them.

o   I come to gather the nations, the peoples who speak different languages. 

o   But in spite of this diversity they will come and they will see the glory of God. 

o   How will God go about to gather the peoples? He will send the fugitives to their nations to announce the good news.  

o   And on coming back to Israel they will  bring the exiled, their brothers and sisters from Israel, as an offering to the Lord. 

o   Those who had been exiled will return in glory, riding horses and camels, proud and strong animals.   

o   They will arrive into Jerusalem, the sacred mountain of God  

o   The author compares this return to the worship which the chosen people was giving to God in the temple   

o   From among them, God will call priests and Levites, men who will serve God in the temple.  

o   What a grandiose vision of the return from the exile. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM:  Ps  117:1-2

This psalm belongs to the group of hymns, psalms which are considered hymns, which praise God singing his greatness.  

R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
 Praise the LORD all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

The psalmist invites us, invites all the nations, to praise the Lord because his love is great and He is always faithful.   

GOSPEL – Lk 13:22-30

      Jesus on his way to Jerusalem passes through towns and villages.  

      In one of these places or on the road, someone asks: Lord, are they few those who will be saved? 

      Jesus does not give a concrete answer, but he says that each one is called to follow the way of goodness “the narrow gate.”

      As humans, we are very much accustomed to measure everything by means of statistic. How many?    

      I think that this question is wrong; each human being is the work of God who loves him or her because they are his work of art, his son or his daughter.    

      He works mysteriously in the human heart. We see only the outside and we dare to judge what we do not know. 

      In each human heart, we say, that a battle takes place between good and evil, and this is certainly true  

      But I prefer to think that in each human heart, during the lifetime of each one of us, a love story between the Creator and his creature is being weaved.  

      And many of us, we do not realize this until some especial moment in our life, moments of joy  but especially moments of suffering. In these situations of suffering we are more ready to discover the presence of our God in our life.  Then we become aware of his tender and merciful love for us.

      Jesus speaks of those, who believe they save themselves  with their efforts, that they have the “passport” to enter into God’s Kingdom. They do not know or have forgotten that the Kingdom is a gift.

      They know much about God and speak also very much about him, but they do not speak to Him. 

      Jesus does not recognize their teaching, probably because they did it for their own pride not for the service of their brothers and sisters.   

      Again, here in the Gospel we are given a sense of universality: East, West, North, South… This is the image of the eternity, of salvation with Jesus. 

      Let our heart be filled with this light, this hope, this trust and security in the unconditional love of God our Father.  

      But let us be at the same time vigilant and alert, to avoid the possibility to be of those who teach with pride and treat their fellow men and women with arrogance, oppressing them instead of serving them. 

SECOND READING : Hebrews 12:5-7.11-13

ü  The author  of this letter reminds us the exhortation  that had been given to us 

ü  “Do not disdain the discipline of the Lord “

ü  These words can help us in difficult times, when it seems that God is deaf when we call him, that he does not listen to our prayers. 

ü  And thus we think that what is happening is his punishment for our sins  

ü  I do not think that God sends the sickness, allows  the accidents, or the bad relationships among the members of the family, between the couples, or makes our children do drugs….   

ü  But I really believe that when we find ourselves in any difficulty, when we found ourselves completely lost; it is the moment when we are ready to discover the presence of God in our life.  

ü  The suffering we endure, may sometimes for a while, harden our heart, make us bitter, proud, rebellious,  but it will eventually help us to open up  to God, whom we have ignored for so many years.   

ü  It is the time to begin a journey of conversion, a change in direction in our life, to encounter the God who has been waiting for us since the first moment of our conception, when he has created us and loved us. It is also the time when we realize the existence of the other human beings, our brothers and sisters.     

ü  God says to us the same words he said to Jeremiah “before  you were fashioned in your mother’s womb I had chosen you, before you were born I consecrated you….  

ü  Let these thoughts and words fill us with tenderness, trust and thankfulness to our Father for loving us unconditionally  

ü  His commandments, his calls, his admonitions and exhortations have the purpose to make easy the way of salvation, there are not meant to make it difficult or complicated.

ü  Let us always remember that he knows us and loves us.     

CLARETIAN CORNER

INTRODUCTION  "INITIAL VISION" – The Charismatic Identity Of The Claretian Missionary Sisters.The Claretian Missionary Sisters have their origin in a charism that was initially given to the Founders. The foundational charism, as a grace, is a personal gift granted by God to Saint Anthony Mary Claret and to the Servant of God M. Marie Antonia Paris of Saint Peter. But since this charism has given rise to the Institute, this personal gift necessarily has a resonance in the Claretian Missionary Sisters, who, also by special gift of grace from the Lord, have embraced the same lifestyle and mission of the Founders. 

The Claretian Missionaries, in fact, have to make their own the attitude that derives from the way of thinking and carrying out the apostolic works entrusted to them. From this perspective, the grace that began as a personal gift becomes a community gift; that is, it becomes the peculiar vision, the way of understanding and acting of the collective formed by the Claretian Missionary Sisters. 

The charism of the Institute, which has its starting point in the  Initial Vision (Initial experience)  of Mother Foundress, is a peculiar way of existing that implies an attitude laden with faith and love:

-          In relation to God

-          In relation to the brothers and sisters  

-          In relation to the things .

An attitude full of faith and love, because this personal gift and this community gift will allow the Claretian Missionary Sisters to see things that no one has noticed, and to hear calls that no one has heard; because their eyes and ears have been enabled to see and to hear.  

 BIBLIOGRAPHY  

ALVAREZ, Jesús cmf. Visión Inicial – Booklet on the Charismatic Identity of the Claretian       Missionary Sisters.

MATHIEU, Yvan. « Dieu toujours à l’œuvre. » Prions en Église, Août 2019.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. Comentario a La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.

 XX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - CYCLE C - 2022 

The liturgy is a call to be faithful to the Covenant between God and us; faithful to the following of Jesus, Our Lord.  

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH

ü  In  the VII century BC, many changes occur in the international arena, changes that affect the life of many nations.   

ü  Syria is losing its power in front of the growing strength of the Babylonian Empire. On the other hand, Egypt profits the weakness of Syria to overpower this nation. 

ü  Meanwhile the strength of Babylon over the peoples of the region is growing. Each king or governor tries to ally with the other kingdoms to be able to face this growing power.   

ü  The kings of Judah play with different political tactics, sometimes they submit to the power of Babylon, sometimes they rebel against it. All of this has a devastating result over the nation.    

ü  In this political situation, Jeremiah reflects and recognizes the unfaithfulness of his nation to God's covenant, and the consequences of it. Thus, he denounces the sins but announces what will be best for his people.    

ü  He tells them to ally themselves with the growing power of Babylon, to spare the people and their institutions.  

ü  When we read the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, we perceive the great love that this man had for the God of the Covenant, and for his people.  

ü  These two loves bring many sufferings and even death to him. 

ü  Let us see the message of this Sunday's liturgy.  

FIRST READING  Jer 38: 4-6, 8-10

v  The powerful men of the nation are interested in themselves more than in the wellbeing of their nation. They do not want to listen to the words of Jeremiah.   

v  Thus, they go to the king asking him to do something. The king, as so many other kings and governors, is a coward, and hands over Jeremiah into their hands, to do with him whatever they feel fit.  Doesn't that remind us of what happened to Jesus? 

v  However, there are also people in favor of Jeremiah who ask the king to save him. 

v  The king allows them to take care of Jeremiah, and to free him.   

v  Many men and women through history have experienced the persecution and death because they have spoken for those who are oppressed and cannot speak.   

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 40: 2,3,4,18

·         This psalm describes a person who is suffering and trusts unconditionally in God. 

·         These words and these feelings are appropriate to describe the feelings of Jeremiah.  

·         However, not only of Jeremiah, but also of all of us who at some moment of our life, or maybe right now, are in a situation of suffering, or of illness, or of despair.   

·         Let us recite this psalm and make our own the words and the feelings of the psalmist.   

·         After each verse, we repeat the words LORD COME TO MY AID!    

R. Lord, come to my aid!
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
The LORD heard my cry.
He drew me out of the pit of destruction,
 out of the mud of the swamp;
he set my feet upon a crag;
 he made firm my steps.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
And he put a new song into my mouth,
 a hymn to our God.
Many shall look on in awe
 and trust in the LORD.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
Though I am afflicted and poor,
 yet the LORD thinks of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
 O my God, hold not back!
R. Lord, come to my aid! 

GOSPEL - Luke 12:49-53

      In the liturgy of the Sundays in Ordinary time the first reading and the gospel have the same theme. 

      Each reading helps to understand the other. 

      In the first reading, we have seen Jeremiah suffering persecution for his love and fidelity to God.  

      Reading the Gospel of this Sunday's Eucharist we listen to Jesus, telling us what changes does his presence produce in our life, many times we do not welcome or like them.

      Gianfranco Ravasi in his commentary about this gospel reading says that Jesus presents to us 3 images, let us examine them one by one:   

·         Fire. Jesus says that he has come to set the earth on fire. The symbol of fire is very frequently used to describe the effects of love in our life. When we love, it seems as if our inner being is on fire.  Jesus is consumed by his unconditional love for the Father and for us. We have seen that also in Jeremiah.    

·         Water.  Jesus  speaks of a baptism he has to receive and how he is anxious that this moment comes. This baptism is his death and resurrection for the love of all of us. Death which we will inflict on him because we do not like a God who is so near; this kind of God scares us, because his presence judges our evil actions. In baptism, we die to sin and begin to live a new life, the life of God in us.   

·         Division. Jesus says that he has not come to bring peace, but division. It seems that we are in front of one of those sentences, which Jesus says to awaken us and put us to think.   

v  When we accept Jesus in our life, it always brings self-inner division because we must choose between him and ourselves.   

v  To welcome Jesus is to welcome any human being as brother or sister, and this entails an inner struggle.  

v  To welcome Jesus demands of us to abandon sin and everything which is related to sin and keeps us farther away from Jesus and from our brothers and sisters. This also causes struggle inside of us.  

v  Each one of us can look at our own life and discover our struggles and divisions caused by the following of Jesus.  

v  However, this is not negative but positive, because when we surrender to him and to our brothers and sisters, we become free and happy in a way we have never dreamed of.  

v  In the first reading, we have discovered the division in the kingdom of Judah due to the preaching of Jeremiah.   

 

      Allow the love of Jesus to consume in you all that is an obstacle to his love.   

      Allow the waters of baptism to submerge you into the immense ocean of the love of our God. 

      Allow the Word to cause a division between the good that is in you and the evil that is  present likewise. Let us cooperate so that his love may vanquish our evil. 

 

SECOND READING   - Heb   12:1-4

§   We do not know the name of the author of this letter, which for many centuries has been considered written by Paul.     

§  All the books of the New Testament are about Jesus whom they present in different ways according to the experience of the author and to the communities for whom the book had been written. 

§  The letter to the Hebrews is a meditation on the priesthood of Jesus, the High priest of the New Covenant who has shed his blood for the sake of our salvation and redemption. This salvation and redemption are offered to us through sacramental signs and rites.      

§  Jesus offers a sacrifice, which is not the sacrifice of animals whose blood is offered to God. But on the contrary Jesus offers his own blood for our redemption. 

v  In today's reading the author of the letter invites us to contemplate the "cloud of witnesses", that is, the countless brothers and sisters witnesses to faith, who gave their lives through a violent death, or in the monotony of the daily life. 

v  We are also invited to run our own race with our eyes on Jesus, the faithful witness, who run his race long before us. 

v  If we look at him, if we contemplate his life, we will not become discouraged; on the contrary, we will have the strength to follow our own race until the end, where he will welcome us.   

v  In the last sentence, we read that we have not yet shed our blood for the sake of our faith, and maybe we will never shed it. However, we are invited to offer our own life for the love of Jesus and the love of our brothers and sisters, the men and women who journey with us through this earthly life.  

 CLARETIAN CORNER 

Triune God   Father, Son and Holy Spirit;

I beg you to deign to enlighten me with your infinite wisdom,

to know you and to know me, and  

to know all that you want me to do,

to serve you and love you with all the perfection

that it is possible in this life with your divine favor.

Teach me, my God, all that is convenient for

the whole family you have entrusted to me in general, and

for each of my beloved sisters in particular:

enlighten them all so that they may know

all that you want from each one,

so that we may be docile and not resist

your divine inspirations and most holy will.

Enlighten God also the Supreme Pontiff,

to know all that you want him to do

and dispose in all the Holy Church,

and all cardinals, and superior and inferior prelates

of the Holy Church and of all religions,

making us all living copies of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With your infinite Omnipotence help us

to be able to do everything as you want.

You know my God that we cannot do anything

without your grace and divine assistance.

My God grant to all of us Your Divine Love,

which is the honey that sweetens all our bitterness,

softens rough things, makes difficult ones easier and

carries us in his arms with the crosses that You, my God, carry on us,

because love carries the burden without burden, and

even if it is very heavy, with love we do not feel it.

  May I return you in pure gold of love, a thousand for one,

of what with my countless sins

I have robbed you,  

I ask the spirit of Holy Evangelical Poverty

for all persons consecrated to Your Holy Service. Amen. (María Antonia Paris) 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PARIS, Maria Antonia. Morning prayer  

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, Comentario a La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.