FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – 2021
It is the last Sunday of Lent;
on the following Sunday we will begin the Holy Week. Let us review our Lenten journey:
We began with the
contemplation of Jesus tempted in the desert after his baptism in the Jordan
river, when he heard the voice of the Father saying “You are my beloved
Son…”
In awe, like the
disciples who were witnesses of the transfiguration of the Lord, we learned
that the beloved son who had been tempted in the desert is God incarnate who
allows us to see his glory, and the Father repeats again the same words
pronounced at Jesus’ baptism “This is my beloved… listen to him.”
After that we
began a series of three Sundays in which the liturgy helped us to contemplate
three different themes:
o Jesus cleanses the Temple of his Father and says to us
that he is the true temple, the true law.
o Jesus must be lifted up on the cross so that whoever
looks at him will be saved, like those who looked at the bronze serpent in the
desert were cured from the bite of the snakes.
o Jesus grain of wheat that falls and dies to give us
life, invites us to do the same, if we want to have eternal live and give it to
others.
Let us see what message the readings bring to us today.
FIRST READING – Jer
31:31-34
Ø Jeremiah is the prophet that was present when the fall
of Jerusalem, when the city felt under the power of the Babylonian empire, in
586 B.C
Ø Today’s reading belongs to the part of the book called
“the book of consolation” chapters 30 and 31,
considered to be one of the highest points in the spirituality of the
Old Testament.
Ø Jeremiah dares to propose the substitution of the
Covenant on Mount Sinai by a “New Covenant.”
Ø The emphasis is on the word “new”, on the newness
which this covenant will bring.
Ø Jesus fulfills this new covenant announced by
Jeremiah, and Jesus himself on consecrating the wine says that this is the new
and eternal covenant…
Ø What is this new covenant?
o First of all, it is new, it is not the old one with
some changes, no, it is new, completely new.
o God says that he will make a new covenant with House
of Israel. The church is called the new Israel, which is formed by all who
accept the Lord, who turn their eyes to him to be saved
o This covenant will not be like the covenant made when God
took their “fathers” and led them by his hand from slavery to freedom.
o It will not be a law written on cold and hard stones,
like the first covenant on Mount Sinai.
o It is a covenant in which God repeats “You will be my
people” and “I will be your God.”
o Under these words we discover the compassionate love
of God toward all those men and women who will be his people.
o In the New Covenant the law will be written in hearts
of human flesh, in the heart of each man and woman who will look at the Lord to
be saved.
o God will be more than ever “his God” and they will be
“his people.”
o Something new will happen, each person (young and old)
will know the law since God will put it
in their hearts.
o This law will be in the human heart like the rivers of
water which Jesus promised the Samaritan woman.
o The church has seen in these passages about the living
water and the law in the heart, the pouring out and the presence of the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, on his church, on each one of its members.
o All these wonderful things will happen because he will have forgiven their guilt and their sin. Jesus will fulfill this, offering his life on the cross for the glory of the Father and our salvation, both things go together.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
In the Responsorial Psalm, we will ask God CREATE IN ME A PURE HEART, on which you may write the new law, the new covenant.
Have mercy on me
God in your goodness
In the greatness
of your compassion wipe out my offense
Thoroughly wash me
from my guilt
And of my sin
cleanse me.
CREATE
IN ME A PURE HEART
A clean heart create
for me O God
And a steadfast
spirit renew within me
Cast me not out
from your presence
And your Holy
Spirit take not from me
CREATE
IN ME A PURE HEART
Give me back the
joy of your salvation
And a willing
spirit sustain in me
I will teach transgressors
your ways
And sinners shall
return to you.
CREATE
IN ME A PURE HEART
SECOND READING – Hebrews
5:7-9
« The author of this letter reflects in this chapter on Jesus’ priesthood.
« Every priest is formed in prayer which enkindles in
his heart the love of God and helps him to be more and more close to the God
whom he loves.
« In this process man learns obedience, to become all
that God has dreamed for each one of us when he created us.
« Jesus, the Word of God, the Incarnate Son of the
Father, who partakes in our limited human nature, in prayer, in the events of
his life, learns to obey. The Letter says, “he learned obedience from what he
suffered.”
« And when he will be made perfect, consecrated in obedience,
in suffering and in the giving up of his life.
He will become the source of salvation for all those who obey, who look
at him to be saved.
« The author sees in all that process of Christ the
priest, a new priesthood which gives salvation to all who cling to him, and he
takes them to God.
« For a new covenant a new priesthood is needed.
GOSPEL John 12:20-33
ü Today John presents a group of Greeks. As we have
already said in the Gospel of John each person represents a different group of
human beings.
ü The group today is a group of Greeks, gentiles who do not
belong to the people of Israel.
ü They approach Philip and say WE WANT TO SEE
JESUS.
ü When they told Jesus, he teaches the following lesson,
which might seem not to respond to what those men were looking for, but Jesus
is explaining this situation, some gentiles want to see him, let us remember
that whoever looked at the bronze serpent in the desert was cured, whoever
looks at Jesus crucified on the cross with faith will be saved.
ü The hour has come, what hour? The hour of Jesus which
John mentions several times in his Gospel.
o
It is not a
chronological hour, but a “kayros” a time of salvation.
o
It is the hour of
the glorification of the Son. What glorification? The glorification of his
death and resurrection, his Passover.
ü He must die like the grain of wheat in order to give
life.
o
All of us, if we
want to give life we have to die like the grain of wheat, like Jesus
o
Jesus invites us,
if we want to serve him, to follow him because where “I am” my servant will
also be
o
Whoever serves
him will be honored by the Father. After all the Father said on the Mountain of
the Transfiguration “listen to him.”
ü Jesus opens his heart to us he tells us “I am
troubled.”
o Jesus is ready to do the will of the Father, which is
his food, but as a man that he is, he experiences fear of suffering,
abandonment, scorn, death.
o How much we must be grateful to Jesus for opening his
heart and letting us know his feelings.
o But John continues saying that Jesus acknowledges that
he has come for this “hour”
o Will he ask the Father to deliver him up from this
hour?
o No, because he has come for this “hour.” It is the
hour to make real in his flesh the “New Covenant” for the salvation of all.
o Jesus asks the Father to glorify his name as
Father
o The Father responds to Jesus, he speaks to him as he
did in his baptism and on the transfiguration, “I have already glorified you
and will glorify you again”
o The glory of Jesus lies in his filial, loving, and
difficult obedience to the compassionate and loving will of the Father.
o Those present do not understand the meaning of the
voice, but Jesus explains that this voice did not come for him, but for them,
to help them to see Jesus not with the eyes of flesh but of faith.
ü And Jesus makes the solemn declaration
o Now the judgment of this world has come
o Now the prince of this world, the spirit of evil has
been driven away, it has no more power.
o And once “I will be lifted up from the earth” I will
attract all to me. The cross of Christ has always been the point of attraction
of Christians and non-Christians.
o Jesus realizes completely the “new covenant” engraved
in the human heart, his death seals this covenant made in love and compassion;
and thus, he attracts all. Only a compassionate and respectful love can make us
return to the heart of our Father.
ü John ends this fragment saying that “lifted up from
the earth” means Jesus death on the cross.
CYCLE A
GOSPEL OF JOHN 11: 1-45.
«
John narrates the
resurrection of Lazarus, interpreted as the resurrection of Israel into the New
Israel.
«
The Jews
(according to John these are the Jews who do not accept Jesus, most of the time
it refers to the religious authorities) agree to kill Jesus because he has
given the life back to a dead man.
«
For John this is
the cause of his condemnation, for the Synoptic Gospels he is condemned because
he has made himself like God.
«
When Jesus hears
that his friend is sick, he does nothing, he let him die. Israel is also sick,
but it cannot be cured it has to be resurrected.
«
The sentence “the
one you love is sick” is a reference also to Israel, the beloved and chosen
people of God is sick to death. The death of Lazarus will be the occasion for
the manifestation of the glory of God, and as well the resurrection of the
people of Israel will make visible the glory and the power of God.
«
Martha at the
beginning represents the group of Jews who have a pharisaic orientation; but
later she does a leap into the new faith in Christ.
«
The conversation
of Jesus with Martha is a theological declaration on life, resurrection, and
the identity of Jesus.
«
Lord if you had
been here my brother would have not died, but I believe that God will give to
you whatever your ask. – Have I not told you that your brother will rise? – Yes
on the last day – I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE … and whoever BELIEVES IN
ME WILL NOT DIE FOREVER. – Do you believe Martha? YES, LORD I HAVE COME TO
BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD, WHO HAVE COME TO THE WORLD.
« Martha goes to call Mary who was still outside the village
waiting for the Lord. There is here, a connotation to the Song of Songs when
the girl is waiting for her beloved. The relationship of Mary with Jesus is
different from the one between Jesus and Martha. Mary related to him from her
heart.
«
Mary says to
Jesus the same words as Martha had said, but probably she meant something different,
because Jesus does not request from her a profession of faith as he did with
Martha.
«
He has been dead
for 4 days. After four days the person was considered dead.
«
Israel is also
dead in its faith, but Jesus has the power to give life again, because he is
the Life.
«
And Jesus raises
Lazarus from the tomb, he also gives new life to the faithful Israel that opens
its heart and puts its faith in him.
«
The man comes out
with hands and feet tied, are these the ties of the old Law? Jesus orders them
to free him, I think that Jesus has been doing that all his life long and
continues to do it for all of us.
«
A good work may
have different results according to who receives it or sees it:
o
For some it helps
them to believe, to put their faith in him.
o
For others it
separates them from him, and they agree to put him to death. What an irony! To
kill the one who gives life, who is life himself. How much darkness can the human
heart harbor?
« ¿Do I believe in the resurrection? Do I believe that Jesus is risen? Do I believe that he can raise me up, give life to me? Let us say with Martha LORD I HAVE COME TO BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE MESSIAH.
BIBLIOGRAFÍA
- CASTRO SÁNCHEZ, Secundino. Evangelio de Juan – Compendio exegético-existencial. Madrid
2002.
- LOZANO, Juan Manuel.
Escritos(Writings) María Antonia París, Estudio crítico, “El Misionero
Apostólico- The Apostolic Missionary.” Barcelona 1985.
- RAVASI, GIANFRANCO. Según las
Escrituras. Doble Comentario de las
lecturas del domingo. Año B. San
Pablo, Bogotá,Colombia 2005.
- RUBIO MORÁN, Luis. “Escrito a los Hebreos” en Comentario al Nuevo Testamento. Estella (Navarra) 1995.
§ VIÑAS, José María cmf y
BERMEJO, Jesús, cmf. Autobiography of Saint Anthony Mary
Claret.
CLARETIAN CORNER
For
us the Claretian Missionary Sisters the first reading has a very especial and
dear meaning. We believe that the new covenant was made real in the heart of
our Foundress on her Initial Experience when the Lord engraved his law in her
heart.
I
was very attentive, overwhelmed to what was happening, and it seemed to me that
I was reading the Holy Law of God, but without seeing any books nor letters;
I was seeing it written, and I was
understanding it so very well, that it seemed to me it was imprinting in my
soul but in a particular way the book of the Holy Gospels, which till then I had
never read, neither the Sacred Scripture
(O.T). After, by God’s grace, I have read something and I have seen it written
word by word, as our Lord taught it to me from the holy tree of the cross. It
seems to me that the words I understood were coming out from his host holy
mouth. (María Antonia París, Foundress of
the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 5)
I tell myself: A Son of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary is a man on fire with love, who spreads its flames wherever he
goes. He desires mightily and strives by all means possible to set the whole
world on fire with God's love. Nothing daunts him; he delights in privations,
welcomes work, embraces sacrifices, smiles at slander, and rejoices in
suffering. His only concern is how he can best follow Jesus Christ and imitate
Him in working, suffering, and striving constantly and single-mindedly for the
greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.(Anthony Mary Claret, Fpounder of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 494)
