CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE -  XXXIV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  - CYCLE  C - NOVEMBER 20, 2016

 Next Sunday we will celebrate and honor Jesus as  King of the Universe.  

• The liturgical year began with the baptism of Jesus and ends with the celebration of Jesus Christ the King of the Universe.        
• The young carpenter from Nazareth went to the Jordan river with the other men from his town to be baptized by John, and afterwards he begins a dangerous and unorthodox preaching according to the religious, civil and political authorities of his people.    
• This young man hears the voice of the Father who after his baptism tells him "You are my beloved Son."   
• This young man after his death and resurrection has been established Lord of the living and the  dead. It has been revealed to us who he really is.    
• He is the Son of the eternal Father, the Second Person of the Trinity, the creating Word of God, though whom all things were made      

FIRST READING : 2 Sm 5:1-2

ü  This passage narrates how David was established as king over Israel.  

ü  King David is highly exalted and praised in the Scriptures. He is presented  as a friend of God, a holy  man but also a sinner. A warrior against the neighboring peoples to defend his own kingdom, and at the same time the tender singer of the wonders of God. Although a sinner he is also  considered to be a just man.

ü  Of his appointment as king of Israel we find several texts in the Scripture:    1 Sm 16:1-13; 2Sm 5:1-3; 1Cr 11:1-3; Sal 78: 70-72.

ü   A mutual covenant is made between David and the people.  

ü  Before closing the covenant, the agreement, they remind David that in the time of Saul he, David,  was the one that won the victories.   

ü  David, who was taken from the flock of his father by Samuel to be anointed king over Israel,  hears the elders of his people telling him that he has to be the shepherd of his people.   

ü  As a shepherd he will be also a leader.  What a beautiful image of a chief who is a shepherd, like Jesus has been.   

ü  The leader or the chief according to the Scriptures is a shepherd, someone who takes care of his people, serves his people, does not overpower his people but he gives his life for his people

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  122:1-2.3-4.4-5

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.

Jerusalem, built as a city

with compact unity

To it the tribes go up

the tribes 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

ü  This psalm sings the fascination of the pilgrim as he or she  approaches the holy city of Jerusalem. 

ü  The city has the external beauty of its construction, its buildings, which captivates the heart of those who visit it.

ü  And the city has also an inner beauty given by the peace and justice which is administered at its doors.  

GOSPEL  Lk 23:35-43

      We read what happened between the criminals who were crucified with Jesus and Jesus.   

      The chief priests insult him, the soldiers make fun of him, of his life, his preaching

      They tempt him, if you are who you say you are, save yourself.   

      If we remember a little what we read at the beginning of Lent, Jesus was tempted by the evil spirit. When Luke finishes narrating the temptations of Jesus he says that the devil left him for a future opportune  time. 

      Now on this cross, to which he is nailed, now that he has lost his strength, that he is seen as a failure, now when he experiences the deepest abandonment from everyone even the Father, it is the moment for the devil to come back and tempt him again.

      And he does it by means of the people who surround him at this dark hour, the darkest hour of human history. 

      One of the crucified men he has on each side tempts him, you can, why don't you do it? Why don't you save yourself and us?   

      This is the same temptation as the temptation of the bread in the desert , if you are the Son say to this stones ... why don't you use your power for your own good and ours ?

      But the other man who is suffering the same condemnation rebukes his companion, and reminds him that they are punished because they did evil things but this man is innocent. 

      How true it is  that even the worst criminals and sinners have the possibility to abandon the evil they do and come back to what is good, they have the possibility of conversion, they only have to be willing to.   

      This man does not understand quite well, how this young man from Nazareth can be a king, but he believes it.    What did he see in that young man completely disfigured  on the cross, that allowed him to discover in him the Lord of the kingdom he preaches.  

      How really true it is that God immediately welcomes us into his arms the moment we go back to him.    

      Today you will be with me in paradise.    .

      Happy thief, who faithful to his "trade", stole paradise, the heart of our Redeemer

      I transcribe below something very beautiful that I have read in a commentary by Gianfranco Ravasi:  

            Luke in  the event of the two criminals narrated only by him, makes the kingdom shine, the kingdom that is inaugurated by this crucified man in a Spring day in Jerusalem.  The only words that Jesus could pronounce like a whisper have as its climax the symbolic word of Persian origin "paradise" which literally means "garden of delights" which is put in parallel with the word "kingdom" pronounced by the thief. The image is taken from the oriental world with its palaces surrounded by fascinating parks and rich fountains and   exuberant vegetation, this image in the lips of Jesus transport us to the first page of the Scripture, the Garden of Eden, from where man was expelled and where he goes back now with the guidance of Jesus Christ. Man has found again peace and the fullness of life, harmony and happiness.      

SECOND READING  Col 1:12-20

v  In this  liturgy, being a solemnity,  the three readings have the same theme, which is the kingship of Jesus Christ.        

v  The first paragraph is an invitation to give thanks to the Father for having granted us to participate in the inheritance of the saints.   

v  The Father has freed us from the power of darkness and has introduced us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption of our sins.  

v  These words complement and explain what Luke has narrated about the Crucified Christ.   

v  The second paragraph describes who is this Son in whose kingdom we are introduced

Ø  He is the visibility of the invisible God.  

Ø  He is the first born, the first in everything that exists

Ø  For Him, through him and in  Him all has been created.   

Ø  Everything finds its cohesion in him.    

Ø  He is the head of the Church    

Ø  He is the first raised from the dead   

Ø  The fullness of being resides in Him.    

Ø  And by Him everything finds reconciliation, making peace in his blood, that means in his life given out of love.   

v  This is a really beautiful description of the kingship of Christ, which Luke describes through the story of the thief, the companion of the dying Jesus.  Jesus  until the end of his life is found among those that are discriminated against, the little and poor and sinners.     

v  All  that we will read this coming Sunday is an invitation to find again in the depth of our heart the answer to the question Jesus asks us: Who do you say that I am? Who am I for you?  

POST-SYNODAL  APOSTOLIC  EXHORTATION AMORIS  LÆTITIA

OF  POPE FRANCIS

Love is patient 91. The first word used is makrothyméi.  This does not simply have to do with “enduring all things”, because we find that idea expressed at the end of the seventh verse.  Its meaning is clarified by the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where we read that God is “slow to anger” (Ex 34:6; Num 14:18).  It refers, then, to the quality of one who does not act on impulse and avoids giving offense.  We find this quality in the God of the Covenant, who calls us to imitate him also within the life of the family.  Saint Paul’s texts using this word need to be read in the light of the Book of Wisdom (cf. 11:23; 12:2, 15-18), which extols God’s restraint, as leaving open the possibility of repentance, yet insists on his power, as revealed in his acts of mercy.  God’s “patience”, shown in his mercy towards sinners, is a sign of his real power.  (91)

Being patient does not mean letting ourselves be constantly mistreated, tolerating physical aggression or allowing other people to use us.  We encounter problems whenever we think that relationships or people ought to be perfect, or when we put ourselves at the centre and expect things to turn out our way.  Then everything makes us impatient, everything makes us react aggressively.  Unless we cultivate patience, we will always find excuses for responding angrily.  We will end up incapable of living together,

 antisocial, unable to control our impulses, and our families will become battlegrounds.  That is why the word of God tells us: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph 4:31).  Patience takes root when I recognize that other people also have a right to live in this world, just as they are.  It does not matter if they hold me back, if they unsettle my plans, or annoy me by the way they act or think, or if they are not everything I want them to be.  Love always has an aspect of deep compassion that leads to accepting the other person as part of this world, even when he or she acts differently than I would like. (92)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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

POPE FRANCIS, POST-SYNODAL  APOSTOLIC  EXHORTATION AMORIS  LÆTITIA

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

La Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo . Luis Alonso Schökel.

XXXIII  SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  - CYCLE C - NOVEMBER 13, 2016

• Today's theme speaks of the end, this same theme will be taken again during Advent.  
• We may see it also as a way to make us understand the emptiness of luxury, riches.  
• It is an exhortation to be always ready for the coming of the Lord, to wait for him with love and enthusiasm.   

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET MALACHI

v  This book is found at the end of the Old Testament.  

v  But what we consider a name is only a title which means "the messenger"

v  The author is unknown 

v  From some words and expressions in the text we deduce that it was written in the V century before Christ, and before the reformation of Ezra and Nehemiah between    480 y 450 B.C.

v  The temple has been rebuilt and worship takes place in it again.  

v  The author denounces the worship the priests offer in the Temple, it is empty, without  surrendering to the Lord, on a routine basis.    

v  He sees in the spiritual purification of the worship the strength and the source of renewal.   

FIRST READING :  Mal 3:19-20a Ordinary Time 

ü  The day comes blazing like and oven, and on that day the proud and all evil doers will be stubble. 

ü  When the Lord is present he destroys in us everything that is pride, vanity, lack of love.  We feel like the tree without the branches of our vanity, without the roots of our false security in ourselves

ü  The day of the Lord is neither a day of destruction of the human being, nor of fear, it is the day of the blessing by means of which our Father God cleanses us from all our impurities which do not allow us to reflect our Father's kind face. 

ü  It is like a tender  mother which cleans and dresses up her little child who has get him or herself dirtied playing.   

ü  The day of the Lord is a day of blessing, which each one of us should wish present in his or her life to be able to eliminate from ourselves all that keeps us apart from Him and from one another. 

  RESPONSORIAL  PSALM 98: 5-6. 7-8. 9

THE LORD COMES TO RULE THE EARTH WITH  JUSTICE    

Sing praise to the Lord with the harp 

with the harp and melodious song

with trumpets and the sound of the horn

sing joyfully before the King the Lord

THE LORD COMES TO RULE THE EARTH WITH  JUSTICE 

Let the sea and what fills it resound

the world and those who dwell in it

let the rivers clap their hands

the mountains shout with them for joy

THE LORD COMES TO RULE THE EARTH WITH  JUSTICE

Before the Lord for he comes

'for he comes to rule the earth

he will rule the world with justice

and the peoples with equity

THE LORD COMES TO RULE THE EARTH WITH  JUSTICE   

Ø   This psalm is an invitation to the whole created world to sing with joy the presence of God in its midst.

Ø  And it is also an invitation to sing because the Lord governs with justice, he brings justice among us.  

Ø  Those of us who thirst for justice among us, who long for the differences among us to be eliminated because we are all brothers and sisters children of the one and only Father, we are invited to join the song of joy of creation.   

Ø  Also those of us who long for that creation: plants, animals and everything in the created world be respected and taken care of, since they are also the work of our Father we are all invited to rejoice with the presence of the Lord.  

Ø  But this will only happen when we love him unconditionally, above everything and everyone, when we trust in him, knowing that his love is without end. 

GOSPEL  Lk 21:5-19

       Some are fascinated to see the beauty and the riches of the temple, and they say it aloud. 

      Jesus, as always, will surprise them, he says that a day will come when  all that beauty will be destroyed.   

      The material aspect of the temple, its stones will be destroyed, and also  its spiritual centrality in the worship of the people of the Old Covenant.    

      They might have thought that this was not possible, since the temple was the real presence of the God among his people, it was the security in his protection over them.   

      And they want to know when this will happen  

      Jesus does not satisfy their curiosity, and does not give any concrete answer, it is enough for them to know that it will happen, when, it is not for them to know.   

      After that he tells them not to believe anyone who will come in his name, but instead to hold fast to faith in his words and in the Father's love, in the word he says to us in the sacred book of life and in the sacred book of the Bible.  

      What he has said to them is not imminent, but yes there will be natural phenomena which scare us: hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and many others, but this is not the sign of the end. 

      there will also be wars, hatred among peoples, but this is not the end. 

      even more, they will be persecuted by their own relatives, they will be handed over to tribunals, condemned to death, but this is not the end. 

      Jesus in these words eliminates the distance in different moments in time, because he speaks of the destruction of the temple which happened in the year 70, and also he speaks about things that have happened along the human race journey through history, and are still happening.  

      It is as if he was looking at a large canvas with threads of different colors which make up to work of art. When the work of art is finished we do not know when each one of the threads was introduced in the canvas, neither what part of the work of art was made first.  

      We call this speech of Jesus scatological, which means it speaks of what will happen at the end.  

      The end will be beautiful since it will be the instauration in creation of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice and equity.   Then finally we will be one family, a family of different peoples who will love and respect each other, and all together we will experience the fatherly embrace of the Father of Jesus, our Father God

      But while we wait for this to happen, Jesus invites us to be perseverant in seeking the good, persevering in the way which leads us to him, and persevering in seeking and welcoming all our brothers and sisters to journey together.    

      Come soon,  Lord Jesus!!!    

SECOND READING  2 Tes 3:7-12

v  The author of this letter invites his community to live from its work, to not be a burden for anyone, not acting like busy bodies.     

v  He reminds them how he lived among them, how he worked to take care of his needs, to give them an example, maybe he wants to say to teach them with his own way of life.   

v  And he adds that he could have asked them for help, since the laborer is entitled to receive its recompense, as we read in another letter of Paul

v  Those who are busy doing nothing, he urges them to eat their bread working quietly, but if they do not want to work, it is very simple  they should not eat either.  

v  But he says something that we need all of us who are on the other side of the pendulum, who work too much, so much that we do not have time to really live our life.  

v  He says "work quietly," I think this is an invitation for us, an invitation to seek a healthy equilibrium between working to earn our food and to enjoy and cultivate the values of human relationships, especially in the family. 

POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
AMORIS LAETITIA OF POPE FRANCIS

 “With inner joy and deep comfort, the Church looks to the families who remain faithful to the teachings of the Gospel, encouraging them and thanking them for the testimony they offer.  For they bear witness, in a credible way, to the beauty of marriage as indissoluble and perpetually faithful.  Within the family ‘which could be called a domestic church’ (Lumen Gentium, 11), individuals enter upon an ecclesial experience of communion among persons, which reflects, through grace, the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  ‘Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even repeated – forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s life’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church,  (86)

The Church is a family of families, constantly enriched by the lives of all those domestic churches.  “In virtue of the sacrament of matrimony, every family becomes, in effect, a good for the Church.  From this standpoint, reflecting on the interplay between the family and the Church will prove a precious gift for the Church in our time.  The Church is good for the family, and the family is good for the Church.  The safeguarding of the Lord’s gift in the sacrament of matrimony is a concern not only of individual families but of the entire Christian community”(87)

BIBLIOGRAPHY  

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

POPE FRANCIS, POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION, AMORIS LAETITIA- The Joy of Love.   

 RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

La Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo . Luis Alonso Schökel.

XXXII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - CYCLE C - NOVEMBER 6, 2016

• We are approaching the end of the liturgical year, and the Church invites us to reflect on the last events  in our earthly life.  
• Somehow the question for us today is: how is my faith in the resurrection of the dead?   
• Do I really believe that I will be raised up like Jesus was?  
• 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?
• Maybe we can move one step further and ask ourselves, do I wait with anticipation, like we await the loved one, 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 East that is 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 also 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 faith 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  But 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 our inner 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 suffer 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.

   

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, even 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 for ever 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 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 so that 

·         the word of God which he preaches may speed forward and be glorified as it did among them  

·         God may protect him from the  evil one.  

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.   

  

POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
AMORIS LAETITIA OF POPE FRANCIS

 The sacrament of marriage is not a social convention, an empty ritual or merely the outward sign of a commitment.  The sacrament is a gift given for the sanctification and salvation of the spouses, since “their mutual belonging is a real representation, through the sacramental sign, of the same relationship between Christ and the Church.  The married couple are therefore a permanent reminder for the Church of what took place on the cross; they are for one another and for their children witnesses of the salvation in which they share through the sacrament”.  Marriage is a vocation, inasmuch as it is a response to a specific call to experience conjugal love as an imperfect sign of the love between Christ and the Church.  Consequently, the decision to marry and to have a family ought to be the fruit of a process of vocational discernment. (72)

BIBLIOGRAPHY  

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

POPE FRANCIS,  POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION  AMORIS LAETITIA  

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

La Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo . Luis Alonso Schökel.

The Catholic Study Bible -New American Bible.