ü It makes us realize that the life of faith, of
fidelity to God and of following of Jesus is not something I have once and for
all, but I have to work on it all my life long.
ü It is not something that I know intellectually without
transforming it into action.
ü I think that these readings are an invitation to be
always ready.
FIRST READING Ez 15:25-28
o
God
confronts his people that complains against the Lord saying that the Lord’s ways
are not fair.
o
Last
Sunday the readings challenged us to think about what is fair or just
o
Here
God asks his people and invites them to give their own answer, who is in the
way of salvation?
o
This
question is also for us.
o
To
have been born in a family who practices the faith, in a nation where we can
freely practice our faith, it is not something that was due to me, it is a free
gift from the unconditional love of God. It is not something I inherit but
something I have to work on.
o
But
there are other human beings who have lived in the midst of violence, without
knowing God, without freedom but who follow the inner law that the Lord has put
in each one of us.
o
Who
is in communion with God?
o
This
coming Sunday the readings invite us to think seriously how do we look at the
others, how do we live our faith, our relationship with God.
o
We
are invited to realize that salvation, the relationship with God is not a
question of knowledge, good reflections and wonderful words, but of good
actions, of a behavior who imitates God.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 25:
4-5. 6-7. 8-9
REMEMBER
YOUR MERCIES LORD
Your ways, O Lord, make known to me
Teach me your paths
Guide me in your truth and teach me
For you are God my savior.
Remember that your compassion, O Lord
And your love are from of old
The sins of y youth and my frailties remember not
In your kindness remember me
Because of your goodness O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord
Thus he shows sinners the way
He guides the humble to justice
And teaches the humble his way.
This is a psalm
of supplication and of trust.
It is an
alphabetical psalm, because there is one of the characters of the alphabet at
the beginning of each line. They were
written in this fashion for teachers, to help them to teach their students
We discover in
this psalm several wisdom themes: the way, the teaching, the human teacher
which gives way to the divine teacher who shows the way… covenant themes: on the
part of God as faithfulness, on the part of the human being as respect,
reverence, hope.
This psalm
written for the school to teach in an academic environment helps us to live our
life of love for God.
GOSPEL Mt 21:28-32
Ø
Apparently it is
a very simple parable, if we are not aware of its real message we look at it as
if it was a story for children.
Ø But is that so?
Ø
This parable is
not addressed to children but to the religious leaders of the people of Israel,
to the high priests and escribes who think that they know more than the rest,
they consider themselves better than the
others, they have the monopoly of Israel’s religion.
Ø
When we read this
parable we understand immediately the message, but do we realize that it is
said also for us?
Ø
Matthew told this
parable for the members of his community, and thus it is also for us,
especially those of us who are in some kind of leadership within the church
Ø
The conclusion
that Jesus says is surprising: the prostitutes and tax collectors…
Ø
Jesus likes to
mention these persons considered impure, and he has enough freedom to do it, and
in this way to challenge us.
Ø
Also in our
church we have differences of classes, divisions, like there were in
Israel
o
The pure, those
who know and teach all the laws and requirements to be holy, and look at those
considered “sinners” as separated, marginalized not fitted to be with the pure.
o
The other group
is formed by those who are marginalized: the homeless, those with aids, the homosexual, the prostitutes …
Ø
Jesus says that
they will be first, like the son that said no and goes, because on listening to
the work of John they changed their ways. They did the father’s will like the
son that said no and finally did it.
Ø
Are we not
scandalized by this words of Jesus? Are we not indignant on hearing them? If
this is not so it is because we read this parable without paying attention to its real
content.
Ø
The Gospel is
full of examples of people who were
marginalized, considered sinners , people that said no to God and later on
changed and said yes: Zacchaeus, the sinful woman, the Samaritan,
the centurion, the Samaritan woman…
Ø
What a simple
parable, yes, but full of questions for all of us!
Ø
I copy here
something I have read in a book by Jose Antonio
Pagola:
When we do not want to be with you, God makes himself
near and welcomes you
In the darkest spot of you night you are not
alone
In your deepest humiliation you are not abandoned
There is no place for you either in our society or in
our heart
But you have a especial place in the heart of God
Ø
Again we are
faced with the paradox of God’s unconditional and free love. Love that we want
to master according to our mind, but we cannot, his love is totally free.
Ø
What is just,
fair for God? That was last week’s question
Ø
Today’s parable
is another way to explain what does it mean: the last will be first and the
first will be last.
Ø
To which one of
the two groups do I belong? In reality we all belong to the group of the
sinners, if we accept this we will be able to understand this parable, and also
the ways of God and we will be thankful.
SECOND READING Phil 2:1-5
Ø
Paul asks his
community of Philippi to be of the same mind
Ø Not having divisions among them
Ø
To do nothing out
of selfishness
Ø
But being humble
regarding others as more important than themselves.
Ø
What a program! That
Paul gives to his community, to all of us, to our communities.
Ø
To live
considering and really believing that the others are more important than we are
Ø
How many
difficulties would disappear from our communities, how different they would be, how different would our society be, how much peace and joy in our
human relationships there would be.
At last, “Rosalia” was restored, and we left this port of
Lanzarote where we had received so many graces of God. They fixed the holy
cross made of the blessed palms in the main mast together with a miraculous
medal because it was by miracle that we arrived to that island, and we hoped to
reach our desired destination. So we left that port, the ones who left happier
that the ones left behind since all of them cried as if they lost a great
treasure.
The memory of the dangers from which
God had delivered us manifested more and more my hope in God. This hope that
the Lord has placed in my heart from my childhood has delivered me from so many
dangers. My hope in God made me so happy that, when I lost sight of the
Canarias islands, my heart rejoiced, because not seeing earth anymore, I was
left only with my hope in God.
Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress
of the Claretian Missionary Sisters 157-58.
The havoc wrought by the Cuban earthquakes was truly
dreadful. The people were terrified, and my vicar general sent for me to come
to Santiago as I was needed there. I left the mission at Bayamo and went to
Santiago,
where I was appalled at
the sight of the ruins; one could hardly move through the streets, for all the
wreckage and debris. The cathedral was a total disaster. To give some idea of
the power of the tremors that hit that great church, I will describe just one
detail. At the ends of the cathedral's facade there were two matching towers,
each of which had four corners topped by macelike finials. One of these finials
was dislodged and thrown through one of the bell tower windows. Imagine the arc
that finial had to describe to break through one of those windows. The
episcopal palace was a wreck, and so were all the other churches, more or less.
Public squares were converted into chapels where Mass was said, the sacraments
distributed, and sermons preached. Nearly all the houses in town were in a
state of greater or lesser disrepair. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of
the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 529.
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
LA BIBLIA, traducción tomada de la página web del Vaticano.
LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO, Luis Alonso Schökel.
SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española.
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