XII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  - 2023

Ø  We are already in Ordinary time, time ordinary, of every day, like our life, our work, our family life, our school.

Ø  In this “ordinary life” the Lord encounters us,  like the first disciples who were called during their daily work, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Ø  In this ordinary life we hear the call of the Lord, but to be able to hear his voice we need to make silence in our heart.

FIRST READING  - Jer 20: 10-13

Ø  The first reading is taken from chapter 20 of the book of Jeremiah, chapter called “the confessions of Jeremiah.” 

Ø  The prophet is suffering from the betrayal of his friends, but also because his best friend “God”, who has called him from his mother’s womb to be a prophet, in some way he has also deceived him (seduced) or disappointed.   

Ø  Or at least he has never told him the consequences that  his faithfulness to God’s call will entail.   

Ø  The whole chapter shows feelings of sorrow, and at the same time, of trust in the God whom Jeremiah loves with all his being. 

Ø  Maybe in the feelings expressed by Jeremiah we might be able to see our own sufferings.  

Ø   May we be able to have also this same love, and may we be able to say with St. Paul “I know whom I have trusted.”  

 

Let us see what the first reading for this Sunday tells us  

v  v. 10 we have the cause of the suffering of Jeremiah, the betrayal of his friends who want to report him to see what he will do, to see if he continues to be faithful.  

v  v.  11  with this inner suffering, Jeremiah feels at the same time a great trust in the love of God who has called him, the trust in his protecting presence in his life.   

v  v. 12 Jeremiah now addresses God, who “sees our deepest being and our heart. “

v  As if he would say: “God you know that my works are according to what you have asked me to do.” And he asks God to avenge him.

v   v. 13 It is a song of deep joy, why? Because the Lord has freed the poor man from the power of evil, and also because in the midst of the darkness and dryness  of our soul we feel at the same time peace and some kind of joy because God loves us tenderly.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM – Ps 68: 8-10. 14 y 17. 33-35

R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my children,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;
in your great mercy turn toward me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!''
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

The three parts of this psalm follows the same movement of the first reading     

      The first

o   He says what is happening to him, he has become a stranger for those of his town, of his race, of his family.    

o   The reason is because “zeal for the  house of God consumes me”   and

o   And thus the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

      The second   

o   He calls and invokes God to come to deliver him   

o   But in the psalm there is a peace and tenderness which is not found in the confessions of Jeremiah, who is still struggling with his sufferings.   

o   For the psalmist God is good and kind.     

      The third    

o   The responsorial psalm ends calling heaven, earth and sea 

o   Because God is never deaf to the cry of the poor whom he never abandons. 

And as a background music the assembly repeats the theme of this Sunday:  God is good and listens to us, even  when our experience is that God keeps silence, and it seems as though he does not hear the cry of our suffering. 

GOSPEL Mt 10: 26-33

v  vv. 26-27 Jesus says to his disciples

o   that they do not have to fear men, because there is nothing hidden that will not be known. 

o   And he invites them to speak and say what he has told them even those things which were whispered to their ears. 

v  v. 28 The one you must fear is he who can not only kill you but throw you into hell. 

v  vv. 29-31 Jesus tells them the reason why they do not have to fear   

o   He invites them to look around, to creation and fix their eyes on the birds which nobody pays attention to, like “the sparrows.”   

o   And however none is forgotten by the Father who takes care of them.   

o   And he leads them to look at themselves, “all the hairs of your head are counted…”  Do we realice what he is saying?    

o   Then if even our hairs are important for our Father, and if the sparrows are important too, why do we fear?   

o   Because we are worth much more than many sparrows.   

v  vv.32-33 I have never been able to understand the two verses that follow, I do not understand what the Lords really wants to say   

o   If I acknowledge him, he will acknowledge me, but if not….   

o   These words are written by the evangelist because he had heard them from Jesus.    

o   But my difficulty to understand is because from the Gospel we know that the heart of the Lord forgives always. We have examples like Peter, “I do not know this man…” “Peter do you love me…” Feed my sheep, my lambs…  

o   I am sure that one day I will understand these two verses., I will know what the Lord wants to say to us, to me.

o   I did not want to omit this verse because I did not understand it. If the Church has put them in the Sunday liturgy it is for our good.      

SECOND READING  - Rom 5: 12-15

§  Paul reflects on the reality of sin  

§  That, he says, entered the world through the sin of a man  

§  This helps me to think about the consequences of our sins, my sins,  even those that nobody knows or sees. Any sin affects the entire human family as well as any good deed also affects it but in a positive way.  

§  And Paul says something very logical, sin has always existed even before the law of Moses, but if there is no law there is no punishment either. 

§  And at the beginning this punishment helps us to avoid sin. This is not what is perfect but it can help

§  Paul sees Adam as a figure of Jesus.  

§  And as sin entered the world through Adam, in Jesus sin has been forgiven and grace has been poured out abundantly

 

 

 

 

CLARETIAN CORNER

 

§  out abundantly.    

 

… But we faced everything and we left behind  everything for the love of Jesus Christ, anxious for a greater perfection and to dedicate ourselves to his holy service where there is a greater spiritual need, and where the religious education may be less  attended and our efforts more accepted in the eyes of God, because we did not make any  plans, except those who would lead to the greater glory of God and fulfillment of the holy law we embraced…    

Not without serious difficulties during the long and dangerous navigation that we did, we arrived to these coasts and, the pious people of Cuba welcomed us with open arms, having received every day clear evidence of their charity, and many parents from families in good standing, due to their social position and their strong religiosity ,  have manifested their eagerness that we request as soon as possible the authorization for the canonical and legal establishment of the holy institute for  education that we want to profess. 

Taken from the letter of  María Antonia to the Bishop Claret  September 25, 1852).

 

 My dear Sister in Jesus Christ: I have received your two valued letters, one written in the Canary Islands and the other in Cuba. Thanks to God you have arrived. Now rest, pray for me to God so that he may inspire us the way he wants to be served by you. As you have told me, although I am not present,  what I have arranged before leaving  is being fulfilled.    

My kind regards to all the sisters and all of you may count on my service. (Letter of Bishop Claret to María Antonia, from Manzanillo – Cuba June 3, 1852.)

 

11th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A – 2023  

Jesus’ compassion

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Come, Spirit of God. Open my ears to hear your Word, enlighten my mind to understand it. Make my heart welcome it as we treasure the desires of our best friend.  Let me wake up from my lethargy  and turn my good intentions into determined commitments for the Kingdom.  

FIRST READING Ex 19: 2-6ª

Ø  The people are saved. God has manifested himself on their behalf.   

Ø  Now, the Lord speaks to Moses and gives him a message for the house, the people, of Israel. 

Ø  You have seen how you have been saved, how you were able to arrive safely before the Egyptians destroyed you; remember this and act in accordance to what I am telling, to become my special treasure.   

Ø   Remember! This is the word that God will say over and over to Israel… remember the covenant made with Yahweh and, never forget it, because this is what makes of you my kingdom of priests, what makes of you a consecrated nation.   

Ø  Do we remember? Or, on the contrary, we live in a time of our human history in which we do not remember, we do not want to remember. 

Ø  Let us ask the Lord the grace to be willing to remember his love without boundaries, toward all, despite our limitations.  

 

Salmo Responsorial -  Salmo 99, 2. 3. 5

R. (3c) We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
    serve the LORD with gladness;
    come before him with joyful song.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Know that the LORD is God;
    he made us, his we are;
    his people, the flock he tends.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
The LORD is good:
    his kindness endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.

ü  The responsorial psalm continues the same theme as the first reading.

ü  The psalmist

o   Invites the lands to sing and serve with joy and gladness

o   Because the Lord is our God he has made us and we are his own

o   The Lord is good and faithful.

 

SECOND READING  – Rm 5:6-11

v The text of the letter to the Romans that we are going to read during the liturgy has two paragraphs

o   In the first aul makes a reflection on the unconditional love of God who, even being sinners, and away from him, his son Jesus Christ died for all of us.

v It is good for us to think from the heart this truth, he died when we were sinners, and he died not only for me or for the people of my church, but for all.

v This means that He has given, He gives salvation to all, we only have to accept it. 

v And this is our evangelizing mission, to love in such a way all the people to whom we are sent  that our love reminds them the love of our Brother Jess who died to save all of us.  

v In the second paragraph continues the same reflection giving more reasons to  love God who has loved us first. 

v During this week let us reflect in our prayer on the many graces, benefits and gifts God has made to us, the first of these gifts is life, he has loved us even before our parents conceived us.  

GOSPEL  Mt 9:36-10,8

      Jesus sees the crowd, not only in this occasion but always, He sees us as sheep without shepherd and feels compassion. Compassion is a feeling that comes from the deepest recesses of our being.   

      What does that mean? Without shepherd, without guide, without being a community, being only a crowd, few o many people together but, without being united.  

      The sheep without shepherd become dispersed, are lost.   

       Jesus says: the harvest, here he changes the image from the animal world to an agricultural image, the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are scarce. 

      The thought that the harvest is abundant should put our hearts on fire, on the desire to proclaim the marvelous good works of our God.  

      Jesus asks us to beg the Lord of the harvest to send laborers. Let us ask Him to send us, let be available.  

      He calls his twelve disciples, those who remained faithful in his company. He gives them some powers to announce the Kingdom, to wrap in compassion, the compassion of Jesus, every person they meet on the path of their life.  The evangelist gives their names, because the evangelizers, apostles, have a human fase, a human heart. Each one has his or her own story of faithfulness, or unfaithfulness, fears, desire to surrender to the Lord, of love for Jesus,  each one is different.

      He sends them giving some Powers and recommendations:  

       They have to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In his first mission Jesus goes only to places where the people of Israel is, the people of the promises, of the covenant. Later Jesus’ mission will be the whole world, all peoples. (Cf. Florentino Ulibarri en Un tesoro escondido. Ciclo A)

      Jose Antonio Pagola, a Jesuit priest, that we all are sent to preach what Jesus preached nothing else.   

      And they have to do it giving health, life and liberation from what is demoniac. The four orders given by Jesus make us understand that this is how we are to preach about the kingdom: “Cure the sick,” “ raise the dead”  “cleanse lepers,” “drive out demons.”

Cure the sick means to liberate the persons from everything that robes them their life and makes them suffer.  To cure the soul and the body of those who feel destroyed by the harshness of daily life.  

      Raise the dead.   Awaken anew the love for life, the hope, the trust in God, the will to fight, and the desire of freedom in so many men and women in whom the life is slowly dying.     

      Cleanse lepers.   To help our brothers and sisters to live with greater truth, simplicity and honesty.   

      Drive out demons.  To liberate people from so many idols that enslave us, take possession and pervert our life together. 

       The last sentence of the evangelical text is worth meditating and making it a reality. Without cost we have received it. 

CLARETIAN CORNER

May the light of the Holy Spirit guide my pen to write with clarity what God our Lord has ordered me several times and now again orders me by means of Holy Obedience.  I beg, then, all the Saints in Heaven, and especially my Most Holy Mother, Mary Most Holy at whose feet I lie prostate, immersed in my own vileness and abyssed in the center of my littleness, without knowing where to begin.  I cannot remain silent, and to speak is temerity.  Supposing then my God, that you order me to do so, I will speak so that those who will read it will magnify your works, Lord, and seeing the inadequacy of the instrument may remember that to establish the Holy Church you chose twelve poor fishermen and now to revitalize it you deign yourself to give the fundamental plan to another poor creature more miserable without comparison.  Blessed be your Power and Kindness forever. (Venerable María Antonia París – Plan for the Renewal of the Church, 1.  MP.PR 1)

 

 Jesus Christ Himself said that He was given all power in heaven and on earth. Not even by this power should we understand that which is incumbent upon him by his eternal generation, but that which the Father gave him by the merit of his passion and his obedience and despondency. Of this power, which he meant by the name of the Kingdom, he then says to his Apostles: I dispose of the Kingdom for you in the same way as the Father has given it to me. He therefore adds: "That he transfers to them the same mission with which the Father had sent him to this world"; and so the Apostles, who understood their Master well, spoke of the Kingdom of God,...   They knew that Jesus Christ was the promised and desired One of all ages; He who brought, albeit covertly, the name of King of kings and Lord of lords that his Kingdom would not be like those of this world..   that it would be an eternal Kingdom, to which no end would be known. (St. Anthony Mary Claret. Plan to Restore the Beauty of the Church,1)