28 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE C- 2022

The theme of this Sunday’s celebration is “thanksgiving for the good we have received” 

Ø  Naaman is healed  from the leprosy and he comes back to thank the prophet for his cure.    

Ø  The Samaritan leper comes back to give thanks to Jesus for his cure from leprosy. 

Ø  Jesus asks, where are the other 9?     

THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

Ø  The two books of Kings are the continuation of the two books of Samuel. 

Ø  In the Hebrew Bible these books form a single literary work called Kings (Melakim).  

Ø  In the translation of the LXX (seventy- Greek) and in the  Vulgate (Latin) they are called “third and fourth  Kings” 

Ø  Because the two books of Samuel are called “first  and second Kings”  

Ø  1 and 2 Kings are part of the Deuteronomist History  

Ø  Which goes from the entrance in the promise land (Joshua) to the Babylonian exile (587) 

Ø  Solomon and his kingship play a major role.

Ø  The author is pleased to show the magnificence of Solomon, and, at the same time, to show his sins. 

Ø  Whose consequences are the division of his Kingdom into the Northern Kingdom – Israel and, the Southern Kingdom – Judah. 

Ø  The theological principle used to judge history is:   sin                  punishment                 return 

Ø   Two prophets have a great importance:  in 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah, in 2Kings, the prophet Elisha, the first reading today speaks about him.     

Ø  Theological points:

o   Monotheism        

o   Messianic hope

o   Institutions:

§  the monarchy, the King is God’s representative

§  the temple is the place of God’s presence    

§  the exile,   the end ?  or  a new beginning?

 

FIRST READING  2Kgs 5:14-17

ü  The whole chapter is dedicated to the story of  Naaman

ü  Who was a general of the King of Syria, he was a leper.  

ü  They tell us the story of how this man comes to the kingdom of Israel  

ü  Today in the liturgy, we read the passage related to the cure of this man, not because of his faith, but because of the faith and trust of a young Israelite girl, his wife’s slave.  

ü  Naaman, as the prophet had told him, submerges seven times into the Jordan River and is cleansed from the leprosy. 

ü  Very simple act, apparently useless, aren’t there better rivers in Syria, Naaman had asked before going into the river.  

ü  However, it is not the material water, which cures the sickness of this man; it is the acceptance of the prophet’s word. It is the humility to believe that something so unimportant can cure.   

ü  Naaman goes back to the prophet, the man of God, to give thanks, and offer him abundant gifts

ü  The prophet does not accept them. The prophets of the Old Testament in Israel and Judah, were not   wage-earners, but men called by God to be his voice, his presence. 

ü  Naaman asks for some soil to take to his country to offer sacrifices to the true God. 

ü  For the people of those cultures, God was tied in a very especial way to his people, and each people had its own God. 

ü  However here Naaman, through his cure, discovers that there is only one God, the God who has cured him.   

ü  They say that when someone is cured by God in an extraordinary way, which we usually call miracle, there is not only a physical wellbeing, but a whole wellbeing, like a new birth which relates the person in a very especial way to God.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power..

v  We will repeat singing 

o   “The Lord has revealed his love…” His love that does not make differences, that has cured a foreigner, a pagan, because all of us are the work of his love, we are his children. 

o   The Lord has shown his faithfulness, the Lord is always faithful. 

GOSPEL   Lk 17:11-19

Ø  Luke tells us what happened to 10 lepers who met Jesus.     

Ø  They ask him to have pity on them    

Ø  Luke tells us that when Jesus approaches them and sees he does not speak about healing them, or of their faith, but he tells them to go to the priest.  

Ø  When someone was cured from his or her leprosy, the Law established that they had to go to the priest who would declare that they were cured, thus allowing them to go back to their normal life in family and in society.      

Ø  The lepers go on their way; did they understand that what Jesus was telling them is that they were cured?  We do not know; Luke tells us that on their way they realized that they were cured.  

Ø  One of them, a Samaritan, full of joy, admiration and gratitude comes back to tell Jesus how happy he is and give thanks to him.  

Ø  Jesus says: where are the other 9?   

Ø  Luke does not give any answer, but we can reflect on our own attitudes.  

Ø  They say that to be thankful, we need to allow us to be surprised, to be able to discover the newness and more than anything else to be able to see more the good than the evil.  To have light or to let the light of Christ fill us.   

Ø  Are we able to give thanks?   Do we rejoice for the good we see, even if we also see the evil?   Do we let God to surprise us? 

SECOND READING  2Tm 2:8-13

ü  The Apostle invites us to remember Jesus Christ 

o   Risen from the dead   

o   And a descendant of David    

o   Jesus is risen, he is our God who lives forever,  

ü  Paul speaks of his imprisonment, as a criminal without freedom, but he says that the Word of God is not in chains, nobody can silence it. 

ü  If we have died with Him, we also will be raised with Him   

ü  But if we deny Him, He will deny us. What does the Apostle mean with these words?     

ü  But Jesus will always be faithful because this is his nature.   

 CLARETIAN CORNER

In regards to  the mystical experience of the "Initial Vision", Mother Foundress María Antonia  says:
...without seeing any books or letters, I saw it written, and understood it so well that it seemed it was  imprinted on my soul. . (Aut. 5)
Which means that for her and for the whole Institute, the charism does not limit itself to reflecting a concrete way of carrying out a mission, it is not even limited to a way of belonging to the Institute, but first and foremost reflects one’s self-identification; and it is also a content that, in turn, specifies one’s own self and one’s own vocation, for  María Antonia  and for each Claretian Missionary; the charism identifies with the deep self; it is the impression of a footprint that configures definitively; there is an identification with that footprint.
Now, if this configuration with the Holy Law of God and the Evangelical Councils is the self-identity of the Mother Foundress and the Claretian Missionaries, self-realization must go in the same direction. For this very reason, being fully woman and being fully Christian necessarily pass through fidelity to one’s charism; that is, fidelity to one’s own deep identity.
This idea was expressed by the María Antonia, in her own way, but with great theological depth. Her identification as a woman passed through her identification with the Holy Law of God:
I would like to have it (The Holy Law of God), written on my forehead to teach every creature (Letter Fr. Claret, 31-X-1859)
She wants everyone to be aware of her deep identity when they see her as the woman she is, because her distinctive feature is what everyone will be able to read on her forehead, in her very exteriority as a woman, the Holy Law of God.
This is the personal, charismatic version of what Saint Paul said for all Christians in general:
But all of us who, with our faces uncovered, reflect the glory of the Lord as if in a mirror, are transformed into that same image, ever more glorious, according to action. 

 BIBLIOGRAPHY:

ALVAREZ GÓMEZ, Jesús. Cmf  Visión inicial.  

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

POPE FRANCIS, Homilíy 9 de Octubre 2016. Web page of the Vaticano “Homilies”.  

SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española.