FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - A - 2023
·
Today Jesus invites us to be salt to flavor life and to be light for
every human being.
·
Jesus speaks in plural; he invites us to be salt and light together,
as the members of a same team.
THE BOOK OF THE
THIRD ISAIAH
ü
This book does not have either a clear structure or a particular
message.
ü
The texts can be grouped in three blocks.
o
Chapters 56-59, and 63-66 that is the first and third blocks are grey,
they speak about division, infidelity of the people.
o
Verses 60-62, the second block is very similar to the Second
Isaiah, it speaks of hopes and promises.
§
The glory of the Lord comes back to live among his people.
§ A bright future is foreseen for Jerusalem.
FIRST READING Is
58: 7-10
Ø
God, through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, tells us that our life
will be light and will shine in the darkness:
§
If we share our bread, our clothing, our home with those who do not
have them.
§
If this is our life, our behavior, our way to relate with our brothers
and sisters: our light will dispel darkness, our wound (sin) will be cured and
the glory of God that is God himself will protect us.
Ø
The prophets continues saying that if we live in this way, whenever we
call on the Lord or invoke his name, or cry out to him, He will answer
"Here I am".
Ø
Yes, he will answer us because our way of living will have prepared us
to acknowledge that we need him.
Ø
The verses that follow are like a repetition of what has already been
said.
Ø
This is a literary technique of the Semitic peoples.
Ø
Let us see how the prophet repeats the same idea in another way. He
repeats but adds something new, it is like an spiral we go around but at the
end we move to a higher level:
§
The prophet adds to what he has said about sharing our material means
with our brothers and sisters in need.
§
We also must remove from our midst oppression, false accusation, and
malicious speech.
Ø
When our life will respond to this kind of behavior, then our light
will shine in the darkness and its gloom will become like midday.
Ø
What a wonderful sentence what a poetic way to invite us to live a
blessed life, a real human life, full of the wisdom that comes from sharing our
goods with
o
The hungry – Who are the hungry in the world today?
o
The homeless and oppressed, who are they today?
o
If you have eyes to see and do not turn your back to those who need
you
§
You will be light
§
Your wounds will heal, what are these wounds?
§
God will always walk with you.
§
You will call him and he will answer “Here I am” if
·
You remove from your life
·
Oppression, whom do you oppress? Do you hurt others with your
words?
o
Then your light will be like noontime during the night.
RESPONSORIAL
PSALM Ps 112: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (4a) The just man
is a light in darkness to the upright.
Light
shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
R. The just man is a light in darkness to the upright.
He shall
never be moved;
the just one shall be in everlasting remembrance.
An evil report he shall not fear;
his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
R. The
just man is a light in darkness to the upright.
His heart
is steadfast; he shall not fear.
Lavishly he gives to the poor;
His justice shall endure forever;
his horn shall be exalted in glory.
R. The
just man is a light in darkness to the upright.
GOSPEL Mt 5:13-16
ü
Jesus speaks to his disciples saying to them and also to us that we
are the salt and the light of the world
v
He speaks of something very common in our daily life, salt gives taste
to the food, and helps also to preserve them in those places where the
technology has not reached.
v
He asks them, if the salt loses its taste, what is his use? certainly
it is of no use anymore, so it is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
ü
He continues saying, you are the light of the world
v
Here he gives other comparisons, taken also from the experience of our
life
v
If a city is built on the top of a mountain, it will be very visible,
it cannot be hidden
v
The cities were built on the top of the mountains to defend themselves
from their enemies, but at the same time they had the danger to be too
visible.
v
He gives another example, when we light a lamp in the house we do not
cover it because we have lighted it to give light to all in the house.
ü
You are salt and light
v
Created, called to live to be salt, to give taste to the realities of
this world. Salt that will make life more tasty for our brothers and sisters,
our companions in the journey of life.
v
Called to be light, light that will make life happy and
enjoyable.
ü
Jesus makes this invitation to a group, we could call it a team, the
team of the Apostles.
ü
In the Church we need to act as a team, like a body, leaving aside our
own little or great interests, a get together for the good of the world, the
good of our planet, the good of our brothers and sisters to give glory to
God.
ü Then we will truly be light and salt.
SECOND READING : 1Co 2:1-5
This page of Paul is a work of art of spiritual life, Christian life,
the life of a follower of Jesus
He speaks to the community of Corinth, so much loved by him, but that
caused so much suffering to him.
The members of the community of Corinth were inclined to what is
external, what is admired by the world. They liked the famous preachers, who
sometimes speak well but say nothing that can help us to change our life.
Paul says to them how he decided to come among them
·
His mission, his decision was to preach the Kingdom of God
·
Not with sublime or wise words
·
Because he had decided
·
to know but one thing, and this is Jesus and, Jesus crucified.
·
He had come to the community with fear, being conscious of his weakness
·
He did not use wise words to convince them when he announced the Kingdom
·
but he wanted to preach in such a way that the strength of the Spirit
be visible in Paul's weakness.
·
And thus, their faith would not lean on human wisdom
·
but on the power of God
How much courage and love for God and the neighbor does that decision
show
The first reading tells us to be light, the Gospel invites us to be
what the Lord intended when he created us: salt and light; Paul decides to be
salt and light preaching in humility and fear so that the light of the Spirit
of God will shine through his life.
These three readings give us abundant matter to reflect on our life
with joy, enthusiasm and fear; no matter how intense is our darkness, the light
will shine if we decide to welcome the Lord in our life.
I have
decided not to continue today with the letters of Mother Paris and Father
Claret because on February 2nd the universal church will celebrate the
consecrated life. That is the life of
our brothers and sisters who have decided to leave everything behind to follow
the Lord in the preaching of the Gospel.
In the
history of spirituality we encounter men and women in whom the experience has
left a lasting impression and has changed the journey of their lives.
Sometimes
the events are from ordinary life, but
they impact the person due to the psychological or spiritual situation in which
the person finds him or herself, or due to the circumstances that accompanied
such events. Some other times there are authentic revelations of the Spirit in
persons who already have allowed the Spirit to guide their
lives. These events have forced the
person to examine his or her life and to change it according to new
parameters. These kinds of events were
present in the lives of Antonio Mª
Claret and of Mª Antonia París. Both had an experience which we may call
Initial, because it will give rise to a new way of looking at reality and both
will discover in these experiences the call of the Lord.
We will see that in both
Fr. Claret and M. Paris these events shaped their ecclesial vocation. Claret narrates his Initial Experience in his Autobiography.
In different occasions in his life, he will look back again to this event. This
makes us realize the importance that it had for him.
In the account of this
event given by Claret in his Autobiography,
he uses the verbs to see and to hear. In
Sacred Scripture to see and to hear are the characteristic words used in the
stories of prophetic and apostolic vocations.
Whenever we see these verbs, we may say that the author is talking about
an Experience of the Spirit. In every
experience there is a context, a vision, and a hearing[1].
They do not always necessarily follow this order. In this case the context, which is a
temptation, surrounds the vision-hearing
of the Virgin Mary. (Two Pens Guided by
a Same Spirit 1-2)
M. María Antonia París stayed in the Order of
the Company of Mary 10 years unable to make her religious profession. During
this time, she has a religious experience, which will be the starting point of
her Church vocation.
It is
an Initial Experience, which she narrates as follows: As this was the first time that our Lord spoke
to me, I did not understand these things and I did not know how to comply with
his commands. I was crying abundantly…
The
event is complex: visions, auditions, words, feelings… It seems that it took
place at different degrees of depth. The deepest one was the experience of a
divine message in two directions; one about the Gospel as the law of life; the
other about the lamentable condition of
the Church and, within it, the Religious Life. Putting these two realities
together, M. Paris understands that God wants the foundation of a new order,
not new in doctrine but new in practice. (Two Pens Guided by the same Spirit 8)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BARKER,
John R.ofm. & BELLINGER, Karla J. Living
the Word. 2019
MUÑOZ, Hortensia,rmi & TUTZO, Regina,rmi. Two Pens
Guided by the Same Spirit. 2010
PAGOLA, José A. El camino abierto por Jesús. PPC
2012
CONFERENCIA DE LOS
OBISPOS DE ESPAÑA. Sagrada Biblia -
versión oficial, 2010
