FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT  - 2021

• The readings today invite us to look into our heart and see how is our Lenten journey going. 
• Our conversion is a matter of our entire life, but the church offers us some especial times, in which it may help us, as a community, to walk toward the Lord, to renew our enthusiasm and our mutual love.  

FIRST READING: Chr 36:14-16. 19-23.

Ø  The people of Israel represented by their leaders have accumulated sin over sin, infidelity over infidelity.  

Ø  The prophets that God has sent to  them have invited the people to conversion, to change their ways, to be faithful, but all have been in vain. 

Ø  A powerful king of a great nation: Babylon has defeated them and taken them as prisoners to exile. The text says that it is God who has done this, this is the way the people of the bible understood life, for them good and bad came from God.  

Ø  If we reflect on this, we will realize that what was happening to the people is the consequence of their actions, of their behavior: they lived as if God did not exist, as if the Law had not been given to them for their happiness and freedom.  

Ø  And in the same way that a powerful king took them to exile, another powerful king gave them the permission to go back to their country, to rebuild it and the temple as well.  

Ø  What are our infidelities to the love of our God and savior? 

Ø  What are the difficult moments in our life, and what caused them?  

Ø  What are the happy moments which we have experienced, and what caused them?  

Ø  Have we been able to acknowledge in our life the loving and provident presence of our Father?  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM:   Ps  138:1-2,3,4-5,6

This is the psalm of those exiled in Babylon who remember their beloved country.  

«  Far away from their country the Israelites remember their country and weep.  

«  Their oppressors make fun of them and ask them to sing their sacred songs to entertain them. 

«  But how can they sing a canticle of God in a foreign land, a land of gentiles?  

«  If I forget you my God, may I become mute and paralyzed.

R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you    

GOSPEL:  JOHN 3: 14-21

      The reading is taken from the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. 

      Nicodemus is a Pharisee who is member of the Sanhedrin, the religious government of the people of Israel. 

      In the Gospel of John each character represents a given human group. 

      Nicodemus represents the Jewish religion closed to the newness of the Messiah. 

      John the Baptist on the contrary represents the Jewish religion opened to that newness which Jesus brings to the world. 

      Nicodemus is a historical person, but the conversation with all its details is a composition of the evangelist. 

      Let us go back to Nicodemus  

o   In the passage before today’s reading Nicodemus is surprised and does not understand how one can be born again. Does he really need to be born again to be able to accept   Jesus as the Messiah?  

o   Jesus tells him that as the bronze serpent was lifted up in the desert, and all those who looked at it were healed; thus the Son of man will be lifted up, and who believes in him (= look at the serpent in the desert) will have eternal life.  

o   John continues to narrate the conversation  

§  God loves so much the world, created by him, that he has sent his Son.  

§  The Son has come not to condemn but to save the world. 

§  The separation between saved and condemned is faith (in the desert it was to look at the bronze serpent)  

§  There is a constant trial in this world: the light has come to the world, but men and women have preferred darkness. 

§  Because, who does evil looks for darkness and, who does good comes to the light. 

o   The main dimension in the gospel of John has a vertical orientation.  

§  The cross of Jesus on Mount Calvary has this vertical orientation toward the sky, toward heaven. 

§  This cross makes the division between the two sides of the mountain. 

§  On one side are all those who accept and acknowledge him Christ Jesus as the Messiah and thus follow him and come to the light.  

§  On the other side are all those who avoid the light and seek darkness, close themselves to the Messiah, do not accept the salvation which Christ Jesus offers to all.   

SECOND READING:   Eph 2:4-10

ü  God is rich in mercy and he is compassionate.     

ü  God gave us life in Christ when we were dead due to our sins

ü  He raised us up, in Christ.

ü  All of this for pure love, pure gift, through faith all those wonders that God does can be ours. 

ü  It is neither our doing, nor a recompense for what we might have done, IT IS GOD’S GIFT, thus no one can boast.  

ü  We are his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus, to lead us to a life of good deeds. A life which he has prepared for us.   

CLARETIAN CORNER 

J. M. J.

  Antonia París de S. Pedro

Aranjuez, April 22 1863

My dear Mother in J.C., We have arrived at this place with the Majesties and the Highnesses. Now I am dedicated to the composition of the booklet for the Girls of the Schools.  

I ask the Lord to do it well, and I ask also the Directors of the School of Girls to let me know what do the girls do, so that I may chose the best to put them in the above mentioned booklet. Thus, I hope you will have the kindness to tell me what do the girls do in your school or what do you think they should do in the school for Girls.  

How many hours of rest do the girls need   

At what time they have to wake up and go to sleep. 

What is the first thing they do?  

At what time do they go to the Chapel? What prayers?  

Do they have mental prayer? Do they go to Mass?   

At what time do they begin their works?  

How do they combine Reading, or study, writing, counting, Catechism? …  

At what time do they have breakfast, dinner, afternoon snack, supper?  

What do they pray at night? At what time do they go to bed?   

How are the dormitories? Together in a large room or little  cells?    

What about Sunday?  … each month?  … each year?  

Frequency in the reception of the Sacraments…    

Please give me some feedback on each one of these points, and send it tome at this Sitio of Aranjuez. You may have already received the letter from   Mr. Pedro Naudó letting you know that I have deposited one thousand “duros” for you to continue the building of the Convent.  

My kind regards to all.         Antonio María Archbishop of Trajanópolis.

P. D.- Please pray for me to God. (carta 226.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY  

 

CASTRO SÁNCHEZ, Secundino. Evangelio de Juan, compendio exegético-existencial, 2da. Edición. Comillas, Madrid 2001.

LA BIBLIA DE NUESTRO PUEBLO, comentarios de Luis Alonso Schökel. Misioneros Claretianos, 2010.

RAVASI, GIANFRANCO. Según las Escrituras.  Doble Comentario de las lecturas del domingo. Año B.  San Pablo, Bogotá,Colombia 2005.

RR. de María Inmaculada Misioneras Claretianas. Cartas de los Orígenes (Letters of the Origins) Madrid 2009.