THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT  – 2021

« The readings for this Sunday put in front of us God’s Law, and Jesus as the incarnation of the Law and of the Temple. 

FIRST READING   –  Ex 20:1-17                                                                                                   

Ø  The people that had been liberated from Egypt by God, and that made a covenant with God on Mount Sinai, is called by his God to translate this covenant into a behavior which reflects this love between God and his people, and the response of the  people.

Ø  The Law, the Torah is about the behavior towards God, towards ourselves, towards the other persons and towards the whole of creation.      

Ø  The covenant has been made between God and the people. From now on there will be no more sins against God and sins against the people, all sins will be against God. 

Ø  This explains why Jesus in his farewell to his disciples gave only one commandment, the commandment of the fraternal love, because this love presupposes the love of God.   

Ø  The gratitude towards Yahweh who loves and liberates is the reason for living the Decalogue, if we separate the Decalogue from the covenant it loses its value.    

Ø  The biblical morality goes from the thankful love  to the Lord, to a marital commitment and then to the morality of imitation.   

Ø  The people of Israel have to continue in the world the liberating work begun by God.   

Ø  With its fidelity to the covenant manifested in the content of the Law, it will help its brothers and sisters, members, of the human race, to discover, through their testimony, the God who loves them.  

Ø  The code of the covenant is formulated in the negative form. It is the most ample way to express the precept, much more than the positive way.   

Ø  The negative formulation of the law allows all the other actions which are not prohibited.  

Ø  This way to formulate the law makes it universal and forever, no matter what culture, what time. This law is valid always and for all.  

Ø  I want to share with you something I have read in the book the Life of the Beloved from Henri Nouwen

Ø  In his book he explains how all human beings are chosen and blessed by God the Father of all. We are all chosen, in God it is different than in us because we chose some and leave others, but He is different he has chosen and blessed all of us human beings. The author continues explaining the need to know and be willing to use our time listening to those who need to share with us their joys, sorrows, sadness, doubts…

“This attentive presence can allow us to see how many blessings there are for us to receive: the blessings of the poor who stop us on the road, the blessings of the blossoming trees and fresh flowers that tell us about new life, the blessings of music, painting, sculpture and architecture – all of that – but most of all the blessing that come to us through the words of gratitude, encouragement, affection and love. These blessings do not have to be invented. They are there, surrounding us on all sides… They are gentle reminders of that beautiful, strong but hidden voice of the one who calls us by name and speaks good things about us, (nos bendice). (Henri Nouwen. The Life of the Beloved pg.66.) 

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM –Ps  18: 8. 9. 10. 11

Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life. 

v This psalm is a hymn  to the Law of God, to its beauty, its perfection, its power to give us joy.   

v In this four stanzas the law is:    

o   Perfect and it refreshes the soul   

o   Clear and enlightens the eyes and gives joy to  the heart  

o   pure, permanent, just

o   more attractive than any other appealing thing.  

SECOND READING  1Cor 1:22-25

« The Jews asked Jesus for a sign to be able to believe, or to accept his message. 

« The Greeks, so full of human wisdom, ask for what they call  ”wisdom” 

« But Paul says that Christ is this “wisdom” of God, which seems foolishness or scandal. 

« And Paul adds something very hard “the weakness of God=Jesus on the cross” is more powerful than men.    

« Christ on the cross on mount Golgotha is the Covenant which is expressed in the New Law, the Law of the scandal of the cross. THIS IS OUR LAW!!! THE LAW OF THE FOLLOWERS OF THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST!!! Fable, scandal, foolishness…  

GOSPEL Jn 2:13-25

     This Gospel has two parts: the purification of the Temple and the sign that Jesus gives 

     This episode takes place during    

o   The first Passover of Jesus during the first year of his ministry   

o   John mentions three Passovers: that of the Temple, that of the Bread of Life; and that of his death and resurrection.   

o   The synoptic Gospels speak of only one Passover, the last one, and they introduce this episode of the purification of the Temple during that Passover.   

§  Jesus at the same time that he overturns the tables of the money changers (they changed the profane currency, that had the image of Cesar, by the sacred currency to  give it to the Temple) says some words from Scripture: “stop making my Father's house a marketplace. “

§  The evangelist John adds that his disciples recalled the words of the Scriptures “the zeal for your house consumes me.”  

§  “To recall: it is not to look back but, to make present, it is to enter into the meaning of the words that is what the disciples did after the resurrection.   

o   The second part of this reading has to do with the sign they asked for:   

§  Jesus gives a mysterious and provocative sign.  

§  The destruction of the Temple and its being raised again.   

§  John says that only after the resurrection did the disciples “recalled” and understood that He was speaking of the temple of his body.  

§  Jesus is    

·       The true Temple where God is truly adored.

·       The Temple where we worship God as the first word pronounced on Mount Sinai                                                                                                                                                                                                                          But Jesus is also the Law, the fullness of the Words spoken by God on Mount Sinai.   

·       Because God is the LAW, and Jesus is the Word=the Son=the Second Person of the Trinity made man and thus He is the Law made visible among us.  

·       From the moment the Incarnate Word=Jesus has come among us, we do not have any other LAW than His WORDS echo and fullness of the WORDS OF LOVE PRONOUNCED BY YAHWEH ON MOUNT SINAI.

CYCLE A

I write underneath a meditation on the Gospel of the Third Sunday of Lent cycle A for the parishes who have catechumens and use for the readins cycle A,  

Gospel of John  4, 4-26.29-42

Ø  Luis Alonso Schoekel in his commentary in the Bible de nuestro Pueblo does a very interesting reflection on this passage:  

o   According to this author the woman is the symbol and incarnation of her own people.  Thus he invites us to concentrate more in the conversion of the people of Samaria than in the conversion of the woman.    

o   According to some information of the Old Testament Samaria was formed by the union of five tribes that re-populated the place after being conquered by Assyria.  

o   Each one of these tribes brought their own god. Let us have this in mind as we read the story:  

§  Jesus goes through Samaria, on doing that he incurs in legal impurity for the simple fract to cross the territory of a heretic and schismatic people.   

§  He stops next to a well, a woman comes.   

§  Him. Jesus  man and much less a rabbi did not speak in public with a woman because this was improper of him.  Jesus continues to break the established social rules

§  John tells us that it was noon, probably he wants to tell us something with this affirmation. The time to come to the well for water was usually in the morning when the weather is fresher, but this woman comes at the time of more heat. Would I be because her life is not accepted in the village and she cannot come when the women gather together around the well speaking and gossiping?  

§  Jesus asks the woman water to drink, the woman at the beginning does not lide that Jew to speak to her, but anyway she feels attracted to continue the conversation with him.   

§  As the conversation unfolds, the roles are reversed, she is the one to ask him for water “Lord give me of that water, so I will not have to come back every day to the well to draw it. 

§  Jesus apparently changes abruply the course of the conversation, the woman asks for water she wants something that make her life easier. Jesus is going to touch something in her life that is going to make things difficult for the woman.   

§  Call you husband. I do not have a husband – You say the truth because you hae had 5 husbands (the five gods of Samaria) and the one you live with now is not your husband. 

§  The woman is making little by little a process of interiorization  and  of looking at herself as a sinner. She sees that Jew, who she disliked at the beginning, as a prophet. 

§  That prophet reveals to her that from now on those who really adore God Willy not have to go to a specific place, because God wants to be adored, loved in spirit and in truth, Fromm the bottom of our truth. 

§  The woman says that the Messiah will teach everything and she receives the most wonderful of the revelations “I am he who speaks with you.”   

§  The process of faith and conversion that this woman does led by Jesus is example and image of any true process of conversion.   

§  The woman leaves the jar, the jar is the image of her life, of her thirst to be loved, she has had 5 husbands, this tells us something about how thirsty she is of love. Now she does not need  it anymore, she has discovered the love of the Messiah that fills her.    

§  She runs to her village, in spite of the heat of that time of the day, she says to them Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?

§  What is our jar? Who are our husbands? Do we allow Jesus to talk with us? Do we ru to communicate to others the wonders He has done in us? 

 CLARETIAN CORNER

 J. M. J.

To Mother Antonia de S. Pedro

Madrid, March 5  1863

My dear Mother in Our Lord Jesus Christ, I have received your letter of February 26 and after reading it I tell you that God Our Lord wanted to take with him that Religious for two motives:   the first to give to her in her young age the eternal glory, and the other so that she could be an invitation for the other Religious to think continually about death, since they see that death does neither respect age, nor it is stopped by the medicines, or the ability of the doctors. Tell to the religious for me that God wants them to think about death and thus while they have time, they should do good works.   

I have read with much pleasure the copy of the Act of the Visitation to the Convent of Santiago de Cuba. The canon Miura has already wrote to me something. Since that Archbishop shows him so benevolent with the Nuns, I think there is no downside in letting him know the Rules and Constitutions.    

You must have received already my previous letter with which, I sent to you the little  book La Vida de Sta. Mónica (the Life of St. Monica) which has really liked and it seems to me that you would do well having the girls read it.  I wish you to read and ask  as well the Nuns to read the book which has just been published by the Religious store, whose title is La Devoción a San José , (The Devotion to St. Joseph) so that all might be very devoted to the glorious Patriarch.   

The world is in very bad shape, but thanks to God there are some good people who work with much zeal teaching catechism, preaching and writing and giving away books, flyers and many take advantage of this, thanks to God. Bishop Caixal used to say that we have to drown the bad books with the good ones. I send these two little books and I want you to read the last two lines of the red booklet. 

My kind regards to all the Nuns, Novices and Girls. Ask them to pray for me to God. As for you pray also for me and keep doing good works. Your affectionate servant.   

Anthony Mary Archbishop of Trajanópolis   (Letter n. 223)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• GUILLÉN TORRALBA, Juan, “Éxodo” en Comentario al Antiguo Testamento I. La Casa de la Biblia, Estella Navarra, 1997.
• 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) 2009.