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.)