FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A - 2023 

In this fourth Sunday in ordinary time the Gospel offers to us the proclamation of the Law of the Kingdom, which brings to fulfillment the Law on Mount Sinai, replacing it by the Beatitudes. At the end of his earthly life Jesus will condense the whole Law in his New Commandment “love one another as I have loved you.”  

PROPHET ZEPHANIAH

Ø  This prophet preached around 650 B.C. in the Kingdom of Judah in the South  

Ø  When the kingdom of Israel was divided in times of the son of Solomon, the Southern Kingdom was formed by the small tribe of Benjamin and the tribe of Judah; the Northern Kingdom was formed by the other ten tribes.

Ø  In that time there was in the country religious degradation and political intrigues.

 

FIRST READING  – Prophet Zephaniah  2,3; 3,12-13 

Ø  In the readings for the fourth Sunday the prophet promises peace and justice for the remnant of the land.

o   The remnant means the ānāwîm = the needy of Israel who prefer to serve God instead of looking for financial privileges. 

o   Jesus in the Gospel will take again this concept and will call the ānāwîm  happy, blessed, not because they are better than the rest, but because God takes care of them in their needs and in their poverty.

o    The promise of peace “Shalom”, which means much more than the lack of conflict, this word speaks of fullness in all the areas of our life and of our human relationships, we might say that in some way it is the synonym of happiness.       

Ø  These poor   

o   Will take refuge in the name of the Lord, that is to say, they will trust in his name above anything or anybody else (the name in the Bible means the  person ) 

o   They will not do any harm to anyone, and they will not lie. The lie is here a synonym of evil, of what is contrary to the truth and therefore harms very much the person.

o   They will live in peace, nobody will take away their peace. 

o   We may conclude that they will enjoy peace, truth and protection because they have put themselves in the hands of the God of Israel who protects them.

o   God is always ready to welcome us with tenderness and love. The problem is not in God, it is in the human person who needs to open him or herself completely to God but very often we close ourselves, and in so doing we are deprived of the benefit of experiencing the tenderness of God in our life.

 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10

R. (Mt 5:3) Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
 
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs!
 
The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs! 

v The response repeats as a mantra “blessed or happy”  Who are considered happy in the Gospel and they had already been considered so in the Old Testament?

v The poor are blessed, but what poor?

v Those who have become poor in spirit, those who have put their trust in the Lord, they might be poor in need of material beings, or have plenty or enough

v To be poor in spirit is a gift from God, but our cooperation is also needed.

v All of us have to work to eradicate the causes of poverty in our world

v But Jesus is not talking here of this poverty that we have to banish from among us

v The poor about which Jesus speaks here are the anawin of the Old Testament. 

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 5,1-12

«  In this fourth Sunday in ordinary time we begin to read the Sermon on the Mountain which is found on chapters 5,6 and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel. 

«  We begin today with the Beatitudes 

«  Jesus surprises us, as always.  He calls blessed those whom society considers unfortunate, those who neither count nor are of interest to society because they do not yield any revenue and they make us uncomfortable. 

«  The text says that Jesus saw the crowd, went up to the mountainside, he sat down and his disciples sat around him, and he began to teach them:

o   The Lord sees the crowd that was there, but the Lord sees also the crowd of all the times who suffer, the poor, the afflicted those in need of so many things.  

o   He goes up to… to go up or climb requires an effort; to live the beatitudes will require an effort on our part. 

o   He seats down, as a teacher to teach his disciples who come to seat around him and are anxious to hear his words: 

§  Blessed, Happy!!! Who? and why?  

§  The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in n. 1716: “The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. the Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven

§  Blessed, happy: the poor, the meek, those who mourn, those who weep, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure of heart the peacemakers, the persecuted, when you are insulted and persecuted. 

§  why? BECAUSE THEIR RECOMPENSE IS GREAT IN HEAVEN 

o   The Catechism in number 1717 “The Beatitudes” 

§  The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity

§  They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection(baptism)

§   they shed light on the actions and attitudes proper of the Christian life;

§  they are the paradoxical promises that comfort us in our suffering

§  they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints. 

§  The Catechism continues in 

§  1719 the beatitudes  

·         Reveal the goal of human existence; the ultimate end of human acts 

·         God calls us to his own beatitude 

·         This vocation is addressed to everyone personally, but also to the Church as a whole,  

§  1720

·         In the New Testament the authors use different expressions to characterize the beatitudes: 
- the coming of the Kingdom of God;
- the vision of God: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"  
- entering into the joy of the Lord;
- entering into God's rest:

·         There we shall rest and see, we shall see and love, we shall love and praise. Behold what will be at the end without end. For what other end do we have, if not to reach the kingdom which has no end?

I copy below the beatitudes applied to the church. This text has been taken from the book of Jose Antonio Pagola “El Camino Abierto por Jesús.” (my translation)

o   Happy the Church with the soul of a poor, because she will have less problems, and will be attentive to the needy, and she will live the Gospel with freedom. The Kingdom of God is hers. 

o   Happy the Church full of meekness. She will be a gift for this world full of violence. She will inherit the promise land.

o   Happy the Church who suffers because of her faithfulness to Jesus. One day she will be consoled by God.

o   Happy the Church who seeks with passion the Kingdom of God and its justice. In her the best of the human spirit will abide. One day her longing will be satisfied.

o   Happy the Church to whom God takes away her stony heart and gives her a heart of flesh. Mercy will be granted to her.

• Happy the Church that introduces in the world peace instead of discord, reconciliation instead of confrontation. She will be “daughter of God.”
• Happy the Church that is persecuted because she follows Jesus. The kingdom of God is hers.

  SECOND READING   1 Corinthians  1,26-31     We continue the reading of this letter 

      Paul says to the community of Corinth to look at themselves  

o   They have been called,  few of them are influential in society 

o   Few are from a noble origin  

o   Because God chooses what the world considers ignorant to shame the “wise” 

o   He chooses those who are nothing to reduce to nothing those who are something. 

o   Thus, the human beings cannot boast before God  

o   God is he who has given us life in Christ Jesus 

o   Whom he has made our wisdom. Our justice, our sanctification, and our redemption. 

o   Whoever wants to glory let him or her glory in the Lord. 

      Paul reminds us of a great truth, whatever is good in us has been put there by God, by ourselves we do not have anything. Why then are we so proud, so vain about ourselves? Our glory is in the Lord who continually creates us and recreates us through his Paschal Mystery.  

 CLARETIAN CORNER   

Teaching House of Mary Most Holy of Santiago de Cuba, June 2, 1857.

To the Illustrious Excellency and Most Rev. Anthony Mary Claret and Clará    

The grace of the Holy Spirit be always with your Illustrious Excellency. Amen.   My most dear Father;  the joy of this your House for the happy and safe arrival of  Your Illustrious Excellency, does not allow me to delay for a longer time to write, trusting that by the grace of God you are  in your final destination.  

I wish and I pray every day for your health, God forbid, if this is his glory, that the change of weather affect your health, and may God Our Lord, give you grace to overcome the great beast that is bellowing. 

I am waiting with much anticipation your decision on our transfer to the House of Formation, which is so much needed, as you already know, and every day I see more clearly it is highly necessary not to lose any moment of our time.  

I assume that you have written to the most Illustrious Caixal on this matter: and I am sure that through the paternal care of Your Excellency the authorization of his Majesty the queen by the grace of Mary Most Holy  is already granted. 

 All our good sisters greet you with much respect and we ask for your blessing.  María Antonia de San Pedro,   

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONFERENCIA EPISCOPAL ESPANOLA,  Sagrada Biblia versión oficial.  

PAGOLA, José Antonio sj. EL Camino empezado por Jesús. Mateo.

PARIS, María Antonia. Epistolario.