24th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME   -CICLE A – 2023

ü  Last Sunday we were invited to correct one another with respect and   love and, to pray together 

ü  The central theme of this Sunday’s liturgy is the fraternal love under the aspect of forgiveness. Forgiveness that we are called to share among ourselves, like the Father forgives us in Christ Jesus, who has died for all of us, without exception.  

ü  Paul says that none of us lives for himself and that we belong to the Lord. 

BOOK OF BEN SIRA - ECCLESIASTICUS 

o   The designation “Liber Ecclesiasticus” meaning Church Book is probably due to the extensive use the Church made of this book.   

o   It belongs to the group of Wisdom Books. Books that reflect on fundamental issues related to our human life. Issues that worry all of us, questions we try to answer no matter who we are and where we life. Life, death, suffering, sin, justice… God or some other superior being.  

o   It is the only book of the Old Testament that bears the signature of its author (50,27).

o   The book was written originally in Hebrew in 197 B.C in Jerusalem. 

o   It was translated into Greek by the grandson Ben Sira of the author in 132 B.C.

o    For many centuries it was believed that the book was written in Greek and thus was not accepted as revealed. In the 19th and 20th centuries fragments of the original manuscript were found written in Hebrew.

o   Though not included in the Jewish Bible after the first century A.D. not therefore accepted by the Protestants, the Wisdom of Ben Sira has been recognized by the Catholic Church as inspired and canonical.

o    The contents of the Wisdom of Ben Sira are if a discursive nature, not easily divided into separate parts.

 

 

FIRST READING   Sir 27:30—28:7

Ø  Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.

Ø  The author invites us to forgive and thus when we pray, we will be heard.  

Ø  How can we expect to be forgiven if we do not forgive?  

Ø  What do I answer to this question?  

Ø  If we harbor wrath in our heart, who will be able to forgive us? Because when our heart is filled with wrath there is no more room to anything else, thus we are unable to accept the light of God, to hear his voice that invites us to forgive, to love.  

Ø  El author invites us to think about our last moments, are we going to be at peace with that wrath in our heart when we face our Creator and Redeemer?

Ø   Jesus has invited or called us to love one another as He has loved us.

Ø  The reading ends saying: Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High's covenant. In so doing we will be happy   

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion. .

GOSPEL Mt 18:21-35 

Ø  We continue reading the same chapter we began last week, chapter in which Matthew speaks to the community about the requirements of being a community.  

Ø  The Gospel was written for a given community, with its own needs and shortcomings.

Ø  The community of Matthew needed to forgive those who persecuted them, those who killed their loved ones…   

Ø   And the evangelist tells them what Jesus had told Peter long time before: Peter you have to forgive always, without getting tired of forgiving.

Ø   And to help us to understand the evangelist tells us one of the parables of Jesus on forgiveness and on the lack of forgiveness.  

Ø  For us to forgive is very difficult, because the offense is an attack on our own being, thus is like being deprived of our life.

Ø  But Jesus who has died for us, who have offended him more than anyone can offend us, asks us to forgive as He did.

Ø  I think that if we learn the lesson on forgiveness, we will experience such happiness that we will never want to go back.

Ø  Lord transform our heart and make it like yours. 

SECOND READING:  Rom 14:7-9

ü  God invites his community to understand and accept one another, especially those weaker in their faith, 

ü  And Paul says very comforting words: 

o   None of us lives or dies for oneself.   

o   But we live and die for the Lord.  

o   Because he has rescued us and in life and in death we belong to Him.  

 

ü  Do I truly believe that I belong to the Lord? And if there is any doubt in our heart let us ask the Lord to change our heart and make is like his.

ü  In our prayer let us meditate and ask ourselves : from what has the Lord recued me?   

 CLARETIAN CORNER 

Year 1842, one night while I was at prayer pleading to Christ crucified to remedy the necessities of the church, which in that time were many, that had cost him so much, I offered him my life in sacrifice as I have done before many times, well aware that my life was not of much value to sacrifice for so many evils, but as I had no virtues to offer him, I begged him to deign to teach me what should I do in order to give him pleasure and glory accomplishing his most holy will. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters.  Autobiography 2.

I was born in the village of Sallent, deanery of Manresa, diocese of Vich, province of Barcelona.

 My parents, whose names were John Claret and Josephine Clara,  were married, upright, and God-fearing people, very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and Mary Most Holy.

I was baptized in St. Mary's Parish, Sallent, on December 25, Christmas Day, 1807, although the parish books say 1808. The reason for this is that they counted the year as beginning on December 25, and so it is that mine is the first entry in the books for the year 1808. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters,    Autobiography 3-4.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, Antonio María Claret, Autobiografía.

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

PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiografía

STOCK, Klemens. La Liturgia de la Palabra. Ciclo A (Mateo)  2007

SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española.