SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - CYCLE A - 2023

Ø  We have heard where to find happiness and we have heard also that we have been called to be light and salt.  

Ø  Today's readings speak to us about the Law and about the freedom to choose that has been given to the human person.    

Book of Sirach  

Ø  The book of Sirach is also called Ecclesiasticus. 

Ø  This book belongs to the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. 

Ø  The Wisdom books are: 

a.      Job

b.      Proverbs

c.       Ecclesiastes or Qohelet

d.      Ecclesiasticus  or   Sirach

e.      Wisdom 

Ø  The book of the Ecclesiasticus or Sirach is considered by the Jewish People and the Protestant Churches to be deutero-canonical, that is, belonging to the second (deutero) canon (list).  The Catholic Church has included it in the Old Testament, and has used it abundantly in the liturgy.   

Ø  In the last paragraph of the foreword of the book written by the grandson of a man called Jesus we read how the book was composed by Jesus Ben Sirach.   On chapter 50 at the end of the book the in verses 27-28 he explains again how all this wisdom literature was put together by Jesus son of Sirach. 

Ø  It was written around 180 B.C. in Hebrew by Jesus, and translated later on into Greek by his grandson. 

FIRST READING   Sir 15:15-20

Ø  We can choose to keep the commandments, this is salvation for us or, we may reject them, and this is condemnation. 

Ø  The Lord has given us the freedom to choose between fire and water, good and bad, life and death. 

Ø  The sacred writer tells us that whatever we choose will be given to us. God is respectful toward his creation; he respects the freedom he has given us.    

Ø  God is wise and all powerful. His eyes are on those who love and fear him, and he understands men's every deeds.  

Ø  God never commands anyone to do evil or to sin. 

Ø  How an interesting theme, the Law and human freedom. 

Ø  The law is for our good, but we have the freedom to reject it. However, the Lord will continue to call us, to seek us and to wait for our coming back to him.  

RESPONSORIAL Ps 119: 1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34

R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Be good to your servant, that I may live
and keep your words.
Open my eyes, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Instruct me, O LORD, in the way of your statutes,
that I may exactly observe them.
Give me discernment, that I may observe your law
and keep it with all my heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord! 

Ø  This psalm is the longest psalm and, it sings the beauty of the Law of the Lord. 

Ø  It says how happy are those who follow the ways of the Lord. In this way the Lord has given us his commandments to guide and protect us.

Ø  The commandments were given to be observed, and the psalmist manifests his desire to be faithful.   

Ø  He asks God to open his eyes to contemplate the wonders of his Law.  

Ø  The last verse we will read this coming Sunday is an invocation asking the Lord to show to us  the way of his precepts.  

Ø  He also asks the Lord to instruct him so that he may be able to keep the Law with his whole heart. 

Ø  For an Israelite the Law is not made of a group of external rules, but something we carry inside and gives life to us.  

GOSPEL  Mt 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a, 37   

v  In the verses before today's reading Jesus says that he has come, not to abolish the law but, to fulfill it.   

v  Yes, the Lord has come to help us to make his law real in our life.  He has come to help us to love the law and to conduct our life according to it. 

v  Then Jesus unfolds before our eyes the real meaning of the law, he gives it its fulfillment 

v  Let us see what he says to us and let us pay attention to his teaching so that, we may be able to live according to what Jesus teaches about the Law.        

v  He adds that your(our) justice, our truth is not superior to that of the Pharisees and the scribes, we will not be able to be part of the Kingdom, of his project. 

v  The Pharisees were known to be faithful in keeping the words of the law, but not always were they worried about the real meaning of the law.  

v  Jesus is going to reveal to us the real meaning of some of the laws, those that worry him the most.  

ü  You have heard that it was said to your ancestors "You shall not kill"  

            But I say to you whoever gets angry with his brother will be subject to             judgment.   

            There are many ways to kill. With our words, looks, gestures we may hurt in such a way the self-esteem of someone that he or she will live without enthusiasm, without any dreams for the future, considering him or herself worthless. That is, that person is dead even if he or she continues to live.             

ü  You have heard that it was said "You shall not commit adultery" 

But I say to you whoever looks at a woman with evil desire has already committed adultery with her in his heart.   Adultery is committed in the heart, even if there are no external actions, because adultery is an infidelity toward the person with whom I have committed myself. It is a lie I say with my behavior.   

ü  You have heard it was said " Do not take a false oath" 

But I say to you, do not swear at all, may your speech be yes or not.  

We have been given the ability to speak so that we may communicate with each other, proclaim and say the truth, and this not only with words  but with our life.  Our life cannot contradict what our lips say.    

We see how Jesus takes the law to its deepest meaning, to our inner being, from the exterior to the interior where God dwells.  That is to say from the appearances that sometimes are false to a sincere and open life without lies. 

SECOND READING: 1Co 2:6-10

      In the verses we read last week Paul said that he had decided to know nothing except Christ and Christ crucified, wisdom of God and nonsense for those who do not love him. 

      Today Paul says that he speaks with a wisdom which does not belong to this world, and that none of the rulers of the world can understand.  

      If the rulers of this world had known this wisdom, a wisdom that God gives to all of us, they would certainly not crucified the Lord Jesus.  

      He continues saying that God has prepared for those who love him, what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard. 

      At the end of this fragment, he says something very interesting, this has been revealed to us by the Spirit, because the Spirit knows God depth. I think that this sentence is an invitation to pray and seek its meaning to discover its richness.    

CLARETIAN CORNER 

 From a letter of the Venerable María Antonia París (Foundress) to Saint Anthony Mary Claret  (Founder). It is about the second foundation of the Claretian Missionary Sisters in Tremp province of Lerida in Spain. 

As for the place or house do not worry dear father, let us have more trust in God, who will not fail, in whose hands are the hearts of all men to move them according to His Most Holy Will, without which man wearies himself in vain. I feel so much sorrow in my soul for you, and I would like to relieve you; I have an idea  that seems easy to me to understand; you will see if it feasible, if most rev.  Caixal  accept the foundation in his Diocese,  he may buy a place in a town  which he deems most purposefully for a house of Teaching (which in many points are well necessary); he already will have the place where we should address,  the document.  

To the Nuncio and to the Minister little will make it this or that point, and to us any point of the Peninsula will be good[...] and when the Order is increasing then, the Novitiate is fixed at the point where it is considered more adequate. With 1,000 pesos and something else that we have from the dowry of one of the sisters, you can buy the land, and build the most necessary to shelter  us, [...] But if we cannot buy we may rent a simple house to fix there the closure, and later on when we increase  we will enlarge the convent , which I believe is done at the beginning of all foundations 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PAGOLA, José A.   El camino abierto por Jesús. PPC 2012

PARIS, María Antonia, Letters

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. Adaptación de textos y comentarios a la BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO.