THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT - C - 2022
INTRODUCTION
To help me in finding the meaning of
these readings, I have looked at the Gospels from cycles A and B: A, is about
encounter of the Samaritan woman with Jesus, B, is the purification of the
Temple by Jesus; both readings are taken from the Gospel of John.
The
theme that we can discover in these readings is conversion, a conversion which
is fidelity to our call or vocation.
FIRST READING Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
Ø Today’s reading speaks of
the call YHWH makes to Moses.
Ø Moses comes with the flock
of his father-in-law to the Horeb, Sinai, the mountain of God.
Ø God reveals himself to
Moses
o as the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, that is, the God of the fathers.
o God is the God of history
who takes care of the oppressed, the needy, and the one who suffers. This means
that he is a God close to human beings who can say, “I have seen the oppression
of my people in Egypt, I have heard their complaints against their oppressors,
and I have come to deliver them.”
o God besides being so close
(immanent) is also a transcendent God:
§ The burning bush which is
not consumed
§ The order given to Moses
to take off his shoes because he is on holy ground. God
is present there.
§ His mysterious name
o
The name
§ For the peoples of the
Bible the name is the same as the person, it must be respected like the person
is respected.
§ In addition, to know the
name of a person is in certain measure to have dominion over him or her, to be
able to manipulate him or her.
§ God cannot be manipulated
because he is the very OTHER. He says to Moses his name which seems enigmatic,
or even a way not to say his true name
§ However this is his true name, his identity I AM WHO AM, it means I am the one who does not depend on others to exist, I exist by myself.
Ø After
explaining to Moses why he has come, he tells him to go to deliver his brothers
and sisters.
Ø You
will tell them I AM (YHWH) sends me to you to deliver you from Egypt and to
lead you into a fertile land.
Ø What a beautiful text which narrates the conversation between God who calls and the one called that looks for excuses because he is afraid but finally, he finds his strength in God to be faithful “I am with you.”
RESPONSORIAL
PSALM Ps 103
ü Psalm
103 is a hymn to the mercy of God
ü It
begins and ends with a blessing.
ü It
has two sections: a) a song to love and pardon (3-10) b) a song to love and frailty (11-19)
God
loves us with an infinite love and an unparalleled tenderness
ü God
is Father full of kindness.
ü Jesus,
the image of the invisible God, reveals this kindness and love from the cross
“Father forgive them…”
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills,
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who
fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
SECOND READING 1 Cor 10:1-6. 10-12
Paul reminds the community of Corinth how those who left Egypt and
journeyed through the desert had the same experiences: the sea, the cloud, the
manna, the Law.
However, their fate was different due to the different way each one
accepted the gratuitous gifts that God gave them.
Paul continues to say that this happened to teach us. To teach what? Fidelity
to the call we have received in baptism.
And it is also a call not only to be faithful but, humble and trusting
in the Lord. “Therefore whoever, thinks he is standing secure, should take care
not to fall.
GOSPEL Lk 13:1-9
ü Some people came to Jesus
and, told him about the Galileans, that Pilate had killed. We do not know with what intention
they communicated that to Jesus.
ü Jesus takes the
opportunity to remind all his listeners that this happened to them not because
they were worst sinners than the rest of us, but that all of us need to
“convert to the Lord” and do good works, be faithful to our call, on the contrary,
we will perish. We will not perish
because Pilate or somebody else will kill us, but because with our sins we will
bring death upon us.
ü And the Lord continues to
tell them a parable to illustrate what he had told them:
o A man had a fig tree
planted in his orchard.
o When he came to pick up
fruit there was none.
o
He called the gardener and told him to cut it down because for three years
he had come to search for fruit and had found none. Why should it exhaust the
soil for nothing?
o The gardener said to him,
leave it for one more year, I shall cultivate the ground around it and
fertilize.
o If it continues not to give
fruit you can cut it down.
ü This parable seems like
the history of salvation accomplished by Jesus.
o He is the one who takes
care of the fig tree, wait a little Father, let me go and live among them, and
let me tell them how much you love them and how you wish them to live, and you
will see how they change.
o I will hand myself over in their hands, loving them unconditionally as you love them, so they can see your love in me, learn and even if they kill me I will continue to love them.
CLARETIAN CORNER
MOTHER FOUNDRESS
At the end of this vision, or the next day, I do not remember quite will, our Lord told me: “My second apostles must be a living copy of the first Apostles, so as to the name as to the work. With the torch of the Gospel in one hand they must enlighten the wiser and ignorant men”. This God told to MGR. Claret and to the other.
In the morning, on the
feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, after communion our Lord told me that Fr.
Claret together with his sons in the order of the Apostles of Jesus Christ,
will be the bright star that with their clear and apostolic doctrine will
dispel the ignorance of the present century that those who are blinder, I think
call century of the enlightenment; His Divine Majesty added: this priest is the
first, and I wish that he establishes the first houses of the order.[1]
FATHER FOUNDER
Ever since I was a small
boy I have been attracted to piety and religion. I used to attend Mass on all
feasts and holy days and on other days, too, when I possibly could. On feast
days I usually attended two Masses, a Low Mass and a High Mass, always together
with my father. I cannot remember ever playing, looking around, or talking in
church. On the contrary, I was always so recollected, modest, and devout that
when I compare those early years with the present I am ashamed because, to my
great embarrassment, I must admit that even now I lack the fixed attention and
heartfelt fervor that I had then.
I attended all the functions of our holy religion with great faith. The services I liked best were those connected with the Blessed Sacrament, and I attended these with great devotion and joy. Besides the constant good example of my father, who had great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament I had the good fortune of discovering a book entitled Courtesies of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. How I loved that book! I liked it so much that I learned it by heart.[2]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET, Antonio María. Autobiography.
PAGOLA, José A. El
camino abierto por Jesús – Lucas, 2012.
PARIS, María Antonia. Autobiography.
RAVASI,
Gianfranco. Según las Escrituras – Ciclo
C. San Pablo 2006.
SCHÖKEL , Luis
Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.
SAGRADA BIBLIA, Official Version of
the Spanish Conference of Bishops. 2012.
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