FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT - CYCLE A - 2019

• We begin a new liturgical cycle and with it the reading of a new Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew.  
• During this year Matthew will present   Jesus as the  Emmanuel.  
• The Emmanuel who is where two or three gather in his name.   
• The Emmanuel who receives as done to him our loving and our unloving  actions.  
• The Emmanuel who will be with us until the end of time.  
• Today the three readings will speak to us about the coming of the Lord at the end of times, we have to be ready and watchful because with the Lord will come the restoration of everything and the destruction of all evil .   

FIRST READING  Is 2:1-5

ü  The prophet sees in the future a time of peace and good that comes from mount Zion where Jerusalem is built. 

ü  Jerusalem the holy city that in the book of Revelation will be the model city, which comes down from heaven, the bride, adorned for her spouse.     

ü  The peoples will walk toward this city because in it they will find the house of God.  

ü  The prophet gives an idyllic and quasi heavenly description of society when it will be built according to the model of the holy city.  

ü  Their swords and spears will be transformed from tools of death into tools   of life.   

ü  Nations will be sisters to each other and none will train its inhabitants for war.   

ü  The text ends with an invitation to walk toward the light of the Lord.  

ü  All of it is a foreshadow of what happens in each man or woman who accepts the Lord in his or her life; in each nation that decides to acknowledge that God is God and thus decides to eliminate the idols of oppression. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  122,1-2.3-4.4-5,6-7,8-9

LET US GO REJOICING TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

I rejoiced because they said to me

We will go up to the house of the Lord

And now we have set foot

within your gates,  Jerusalem.

LET US GO REJOICING TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

Jerusalem, built as a city

with compact unity

To it the tribes go up

the tribes of the Lord

LET US GO REJOICING TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

According to the decree for Israel

to give thanks to the name of the Lord

In it are set up judgment seats,

seats for the house of David

LET US GO REJOICING TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

May those who love you prosper

May peace be within your walls

prosperity in your buildings

LET US GO REJOICING TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

Because of my brothers and friends

I will say "Peace be within you"

Because of the house of the Lord our God

I will pray for your good.

LET US GO REJOICING TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

ü  Last Sunday, Solemnity of Christ King of the Universe, we have read this same psalm.   

ü  The holy city whose external beauty in its buildings and other constructions, captivates the eyes and the heart of those who see her,  

ü  has also an internal beauty given by the peace her dwellers enjoy, and the justice which is administered at her doors.   

ü  The psalmist ends in the last stanza speaking about friends and brothers, he does not speak about enemies as other psalms do.   

ü  Finally the members of the human race we have realized that we are all brothers and sisters, children of the one and only God, and Father, creator of all.   

GOSPEL  Mt 24:37-44   

     On the XXXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus said to his disciples not to be troubled by those who announce the end of times to be near, because it will not happen so soon.  

     The author of the Second letter to the Thessalonians was saying the same thing to his community.   

     What the Lord tells us is to be prepared to welcome him, and he gives some examples taken from the flood. When it came everyone was doing his or her own thing, without worrying about other things and they were surprised by the flood like it happens to us with the hurricanes and earthquakes

     The Lord says also that when he comes everyone will be doing their normal tasks, some will be working, and among them some will be ready and some not. 

     To help us understand his teaching he gives the example of the man who has many possessions, if he knew when the thief was coming, he will be ready to protect his house.   

     Thus, it should be with us who are waiting not for a thief but for the Lord of our life, who presumably we are waiting for.

     At the end of the reading the Lord says again, more clearly BE PREPARED, because you do not know when I will come to you.    

     And this preparation is neither to neglect our responsibilities, nor  to repeat prayers like the pagans, nor kneeling hours and hours in the church to "please the Lord" so that he will not be angry with us. No, this preparation is described by Matthew in chapter 25 of his gospel: I was hungry, I was thirsty.... each time you did to one of my brothers you did unto me.  

SECOND READING  Rm 13:11-14

v Paul, like Jesus,  invites us to be vigilant  

v He uses images of night and day   

v When day comes we prepare ourselves for the day.  

v When we realize that the Lord is present and wants to be part of our life, we leave our negative and sinful actions and we begin a new journey of life "let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the our working clothes.   

v Paul gives a list of these works of darkness, of the night clothing which we have to cast off: drunkenness, unlawful and dehumanizing sexual relations, rivalries and jealousy.  

v Then he invites us to change our night clothing and put on the clothing of light which is Jesus the Lord.    

v At our baptism we were given a white clothe and we were told to put it on, use it, and keep it until  the day when the Lord will call us.   

v This white clothe is the symbol of Jesus our Lord, of the life of grace, the life of God which is offered to us so that we may be able to live as children of the Father.

  

CLARETIAN CORNER 

As for me, everything was to cry and to pray day and night to my God and most blessed Mary to deign to enlighten them so we could go out at once from the situation. I said to myself what will they say at home if I make them spend uselessly and I will not profess? And what will Mo. Prioress say except that all is a fiction and a lie? How I can repay her delicacies with such ingratitude? So many proofs of love especially in those last days that she was overflowing with joy (foreseeing me already professed, as she said, for the great desires she had, that I do not know why she loved me so much) every loving expression in her was for me like a dart penetrating my soul thinking of the pain that my separation would give her, because as for me, the Lord was already giving me grace for any sacrifice. So I said to God: “This, Lord, makes me multiply my tears and nag you more with my pleas.” Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 103

But God's ways are unsearchable, for although I really enjoyed manufacturing and had made considerable progress in it, I couldn't make up my mind. I felt an inner repugnance for settling down and also for causing my father to contract any further liabilities on my behalf. I told him that I thought the time was not ripe, that I was still very young, and that because I was so short of stature, the workers wouldn't take orders from me. He told me not to be concerned about that because someone else could handle the workers and I would only be involved in the directorship of the business. I continued to decline, however, saying that we would consider the matter later but that just now I didn't wish to accept. My decision proved to be truly providential. This was the first time I had ever opposed my father's plans. The reason, of course, was that God willed something else for me: He wanted me to be a priest, not a businessman, although at the time such ideas never entered my head.. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 64.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, Antonio María Claret, Autobiografía.

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

PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiografía

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32 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - CYCLE C - 2019

Ø  We are approaching the end of the liturgical year, and the Church invites us to reflect on the last events  in our earthly life. 

Ø  Somehow the question for us today is: how is my faith in the resurrection of the dead?  

Ø  Do I really believe that I will be raised up as Jesus was? 

Ø  Nobody asks me if I understand the question, they ask me if I believe what I say every Sunday standing among the members of the congregation "I believe in the resurrection of the dead and in the life eternal." Am I conscious of what I am saying or do I just repeat words without any meaning for me?

Ø  Maybe we can move one-step further and ask ourselves, do I wait with anticipation, as if I await the beloved, the final encounter with our Creator and Redeemer?

SECOND BOOK OF THE MACCABEES 

v The second book of the Maccabees is not the continuation of the first, some chapters in both books overlap 1Mc 3-7 and 2Mc 8-15 have many similarities.  .

v These two books tell us how Israel fell under the influence of the Hellenistic culture, and how did the people deal with this situation. Some remained faithful to the traditions and beliefs of their fathers; others let themselves be assimilated into the new culture that surrounded them.

v We are talking about a period of history that reached its highest point in Athens during the V century before Christ.    

v Up to that time, Israel had experienced the influence of the kingdoms from the  Middle East.   The influence of the Greek culture puts Israel and other peoples under the influence of the Western culture. 

v These two books tell about the resistance of the faithful of Israel to be assimilated into the Greek culture. The author reflects on several points of interest for the faith of Israel and for our faith too. We also live surrounded by a foreign culture different from the culture of our fathers, and we experience its influence, which questions some aspects of our faith. Let us see some of these points:   

·       The sufferings the people experiences are the consequence of its own behavior, the consequence of the choices each person has made. God does not inflict the suffering over his people.  Either we chose to be with God, or we chose to be far from God, ignoring his presence in our life.  

·       Martyrdom that is the possibility for the human being to be faithful to the rules and demands of his or her faith up to the point of giving up his or her own life.  

·       Martyrdom is the consequence of the fidelity and love of God, and the faith in the life after death.  

·       Thus faith in the resurrection of those who have died in the Lord.  

v The books of the Maccabees are among the "Deuterocanonical books" that is the books, which the Catholic Church considers revealed and which are not accepted by the Jewish tradition and by the other Christian traditions. 

FIRST READING:  2 Mc 7:1-2, 9-14

ü  This part of the book of the Maccabees tells us the story of seven brothers and their mother who preferred to die instead of eating pork, because the law of God forbade it.   

ü  Maybe we think that it is a nonsense to die instead of eating pork, because there is nothing wrong about eating pork, God has made all things right and good.  

ü  However, the point is not to eat or not to eat pork, but to be faithful to our faith in God. In a word it is about clinging to God because we love him, and thus for his love we prefer to be faithful up to the point of giving up our own life, because we do not want to be separated from him. 

ü  As one of the  psalms says "because your love is better than life"  

ü  For us, living in a very pragmatic culture, it is difficult to put faith first above our wellbeing even our life, and thus understand the value of martyrdom.  

ü  One of the young men that is tortured confesses his faith in the life after death, even more, he confesses his belief in the resurrection "you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying."   

ü  Another one of the young men says "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope that God will give life to me again."  

ü  This reading calls us to look into the depth of our being and ask ourselves how is our faith and love for God, do we love him to the point of being able to give up our life for him? It is certainly truth that martyrdom is a gift and a call from God, by ourselves, we cannot endure it, but we can ask ourselves about how is the thermometer of our love.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  17:1.5-6.8.15

LORD WHEN YOUR GLORY APPEARS, MY JOY WILL  BE FULL

Hear O Lord a just suit

attend to my outcry

hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.\

My steps have been steadfast in your paths

my feet have not faltered

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God.

incline your ear to me; hear my word.

Keep me as the apple of your eye

hide me in the shadow of your wings

But I in justice shall behold you face

on walking I shall be content in your presence.

   LORD WHEN YOUR GLORY APPEARS, MY JOY WILL  BE FULL

Ø  The author of this psalm tells his faith and love for God, repeating in some way the theme of the first reading.     

Ø  In his words, we sense a deep trust in the love God has for him. 

Ø  His words are like fire, which can help us to light up again the fire under the ashes of our daily worries and responsibilities. 

GOSPEL Lk 20:27-38

     Some Sadducees that is the group that did not believe in anything else than what can be touched and seen, nothing else was true for them thus they did not believe in the resurrection after death. 

     They make fun of Jesus who speaks of the reality of life after death, and they present to him a situation which they invented which shows their lack of faith in anything spiritual, we may even say that this story is really disgusting  

     Apart from the theme of life after death, which they do not believe in, their story shows their lack of respect for women, whom they see as an object of their fulfillment of the law, not as a person.  

     Jesus answers them saying that in the future life no one will be taken or given in marriage, because they will life forever.

     He reminds them that God is the God of life, and makes them realize that this is a belief of Israel even from the time of Moses "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."  

     In some way, Jesus wishes that they return to the faith they say they profess, that the faith in the resurrection is not a novelty but something which has existed from the beginning.   

     This gospel, in spite of not being attractive, can give us the opportunity to see if we really believe that our God is the God of life, the God who calls us to live forever from the moment of our conception in our mother's womb, more than that, since the moment when God thought of us, and God is eternal. God thought of us and loved us because his name is Love.  

     This text can help us to reflect on the value of human life, conceived in the heart of God and destined to go back and become united forever with its God, Creator and Redeemer.

     Maybe this text can also help us, believers, to reflect on the tendency of our modern culture to eliminate any life which bothers us, and so think only about our wellbeing: abortion and euthanasia, and all the other ways of killing that we have: wars, death penalty, hunger in the world, unemployment, psychological, sexual and physical abuse, discriminations of all sorts, defamation… The Heavenly Fathers awaits each one of us, when we see Him face to face what will we answer to his question: ”where is your sister? Where is your brother?

SECOND READING  2 Tes 2:16-3,5

v The author of this letter asks God to strengthen his readers in every good deed and word

v He asks them to pray for him  

v He adds that he is sure that the word preached among them will continue to be fruitful in them. 

v He ends this section of the letter asking God to lead them to the love of God and grant them the same endurance of Christ.   

v This may also be our prayer.   

  CLARETIAN CORNER

This circumstances permitted by God placed my confessor in a great compromise. Then, everything was already depending on his decision. The days of the exercises were nearing the end. I did not opt either for going out or remaining; I only chose not to choose anything but to be hanging on obedience. I passed whole nights at the foot of Christ the crucified or in the presence of the most blessed sacrament praying unceasingly to God our Lord not to permit, for his infinite mercy, that this so important step would be a mistake. But the heavens had become as bronze and the continues tears did not soften it.  Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 99.

One day I told the shop superintendent that the pattern we both had in hand could be worked out in such and such a manner. He took a pencil and drew a plan of the way the loom should be set up for the job. I made no comment but told him that if he didn't object, I would study it. I took the pattern and his sketch for the loom-setting home with me. In a few days I brought him a sketch of the setup needed to produce the pattern and showed him how the one he had sketched would not have produced the pattern in question but a different one, which I also showed him. The superintendent was amazed at my sketches as well as at my reasoning and explanations. St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 60

BLIOGRAPHY  

CLARET, St. Anthony Mary. Autobiography.

PAGOLA, José A.  Following in the Footsteps of Jesus. Meditations on the Gospels for Year C.

PARIS, Venerable María Antonia. Autobiography.

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

La Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo . Luis Alonso Schökel.

The Catholic Study Bible -New American Bible.