XXXIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE A –  2017

Ø  We continue with the themes proper of the end of life: vigilance and faithfulness.   

Ø  As the end of the liturgical year or year of the church is almost here, the liturgy offers these themes for our consideration.   

BOOK OF PROVERBS

Ø  This book calls our attention for his miscellaneous composition: there are poems more or less long, there are also lists of short proverbial sentences

Ø  We do not find in this book the biblical themes of the Old Testament.    

Ø  It contains pragmatic reflections and rules to help men and women to live a good life.    

Ø  This book is catalogued together with the books of Job, Sirach, Ecclesiastes and Wisdom as wisdom literature.   

Ø  Proverbs is the most secular of these books.    

FIRST READING : Prov 31:10-13. 19-20. 30-31

Ø  This   text from Proverbs is a hymn to the strong woman

Ø  This woman is a blessing and cause of happiness for her husband, not because of her external beauty but for her beauty and harmony as a person.    

Ø  This is a very beautiful text, as we read, it if we allow our imagination to picture the words we read, we see a woman busy all day long about her home and the care for her own who lack nothing, not even her servants lack anything.    

Ø  We all know women like this, usually they are simple women, who pass unnoticed, and we do not take time to look at them because they are so humble that they do nothing to call our attention.   

Ø  Women centered in the good of their family.    

Ø  Once I met a woman who lived in such poverty that you cannot even imagine, and I knew through her children that she ate once a day or every other day, because she first gave food to her children.   

Ø  Whenever we read this text I always think about her.     

Ø  The text says “blessed the man” yes, one thousand times blessed because he has a treasure in the companion of his life.   

RESPONSORIAL PSALM:    Ps. 128: 1-2. 3. 4-5

R. (cf. 1a) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

·         Blessed the man who fears the Lord.  

·         He will have work; this will make him happy because he will be able to feed his family.   

·         His wife in the midst of his home and his children around the table. This is the image of a peaceful home, a place that helps all who live under the same roof.   

·         And the psalmist adds that this is the blessing of the one who fears the Lord.    

·         In our society many persons who are honest and who fear the Lord do not enjoy the blessing of having a job due to the selfishness of some who organize society and the economy without taking into consideration the good of each human being, every human being is a spark of the divinity, and thus is entitle to respect and care. 

GOSPEL - Mt 25:14-15. 19-21

This Sunday we can chose between a long or a short version of the Gospel. For this commentary I have chosen the short one because it ends in a positive way. Since we are used to the other ending, maybe this change will call our attention and so it will help us better to reflect deeply on what Jesus really wants to say.   

Ø  The parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven  

Ø  Jesus has spoken in several occasions about the Kingdom of Heaven: it is like a banquet, like the virgins who accompany the bride, like the pearl, like the field, like the net…   

Ø  This parable tells us that there is  a man who goes on a voyage and leaves his reliable servants in charge of his goods which are represented by the talents.    

Ø  The talent is a coin, but it is also the ability to do something.   

Ø  And the text says that he gave to each one according to his own capacity.  

Ø  Let us think about talent as the skill I have, or how I am gifted for something. Each one of us has a different talent, and no one is better than the other. What God sees as good is the effort I put in using my talent.  

Ø  The master comes back after a long time   

Ø  And as he calls them to give an account of their administration, the first one who had received 5 talents  brings back 5 more talents he earned with the talents he had received.    

Ø  The master congratulates him and invites him to share in the joy of his Master.    

Ø  I think that this is a suggestive image of the Kingdom “to share the joy of the Lord, of our Father God. “

Ø  It seems to me that this is what Jesus wants to tell us about the Kingdom here and after.   

SECOND READING  1 Thes 5: 1-6

Ø  Paul and in general the Christians of the first century inherit from the Jewish apocalyptic literature some ideas on the “second coming of the Lord.”   

Ø  The description of the Old Testament theophany is wrapped with an apocalyptic attire and shows some recurrent themes: 

o   The coming of the Lord will be imminent    

o   It will come like a thief, suddenly  

o   Nobody knows either the time or the way    

o   When he comes he will judge    

Ø  Paul invites us not to pay attention to the details that is to the apocalyptic details which the text offers.   

Ø  But to live with a watchful waiting, like the lover who awaits for the beloved.   

Ø  The biblical commentary from which I have taken this explanation says that what the first Christian Communities wrote and spoke and believed of the coming of the Lord had been clarified by the Church over the centuries.   

Ø  This means that I cannot interpret the meaning by myself, neither accept the explanations given by our brothers and sisters from other Christian traditions or from the sects, but we must be attentive to what the Catholic Church teaches. 

CLARETIAN CORNER

 One night while praying and in bitter tears, pleading to our Lord that by the merits of His Passion and death to have mercy on the necessities of His church which at that time were many, our Lord told me and pointing at Mgr. Claret as if I saw him between our Lord and me.” This, my daughter, is the apostolic person whom you have asked me for so many years and with so much tears”.

His Divine Majesty showed me the grace He poured on that holy soul for the preaching of the gospel, and our Lord told me that there was no other remedy for the peace of the church. I did not know that person. Only a few days before I heard that a   certain chaplain by the name of Monsen Claret began preaching with much zeal about the honor due to God and the salvation of souls. It seems to me that have been at least eleven or twelve years ago. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 19.

 For my greater embarrassment I should like to quote the words of the author of the Book of Wisdom (8:19): "I was a boy of happy disposition. I had received a good soul as my lot." That is, I received a good nature or disposition from God, out of his sheer goodness

I remember that during the war of independence, which lasted from 1808 to 1814, the people of Sallent were so frightened of the French--and with good reason, since the French had burned the city of Manresa and the town of Calders, near Sallent that everyone fled when they heard the news that the French army was on its way. During the first evacuation I recollect being carried on someone's shoulders; but during the last evacuation, when I was four or five, I went on foot and gave grandfather Clara, my mother's father, a helping hand ^]. It was at night, and his eyesight was failing, and I guided him through the obstacles with such patience and kindness that the poor old man was very glad to see that I hadn't run off to join my brothers and cousins who had abandoned the two of us. I always showed him a great deal of affection until he died, and not only him but also all those who were elderly and disabled. St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 18-19.

 BIBLIOGRAFÍA

CLARET, SAN ANTONIO MARÍA. Autobiografía.

PARIS, VEN. MARÍA ANTONIA , Autobiografía

Sagrada Biblia, vesión oficial de la Conferencia de Obispos de España (Holy Bible, oficial edition of the Spanish  Conference of Bishops.)

 
 

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XXXII Sunday in Ordinary Time  – Cycle A – 2017

The readings speak of wisdom, a wisdom that helps us to live a life in vigilance, attentive to the successes and persons, seeking the meaning of the events.   

FIRST READING  – Wis  6:12-16

Ø  Wisdom is represented as a person  

o   The first two verses speak about something radiant, without corruption  

o   But in the other verses it seems to speak about a person: who wants to be found, who hastens to make herself known…   

o   He who watches for her at dawn will find her sitting at his door, this wisdom might also be God himself, who is always near us, waiting for us.  

o   Those who seek her in their thoughts will reach prudence and freedom.  

o   Wisdom is full of kindness and collaborates with our human projects.   

Ø  In this text we find the verbs to seek and to find.  

o   The human being seeks wisdom  

o   She (Wisdom) makes herself to be found…  

Ø  This text is of a great literary beauty and it projects a very attractive image.   

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM:  Ps. 62: 2. 3-4. 5-6. 7-8

R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
I will remember you upon my couch,
and through the night-watches I will meditate on you:
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Ø  This psalm does not speak of that attractive character called wisdom, but  here the soul is thirsting for the living God.  

Ø  It is as thirsty as the soil when it has not rained for a long time.   

Ø  The psalmist seeks God, in the same way as the person in the first reading was seeking wisdom.  

Ø  The psalmist says that the love of God is more valuable than life itself.  

Ø  And his whole being joins in this praise: he raises his hands, and his lips sing with joy.  

GOSPEL    Mt 25: 1-13

Ø  Jesus has compared the Kingdom to a field, to a wedding feast, to a treasure…  

Ø  Today the Lord says that it is like, the 10 maids who accompanied the bride to the house of the bridegroom.    

Ø  Five of them lacked wisdom and the others were prudent, they allowed themselves to be guided by the wisdom the first reading speaks about.   

Ø  All did the same, they fell sleep waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom. 

Ø  The bridegroom here seems to be the main character and the most desired one. The maids will supplicate the bridegroom to allow them to be part of the celebration “Lord, Lord open the door for us?” 

Ø  When they got up on hearing that the bridegroom is near, they all have to trim their lamps. Five are oil besides the oil in the lamp, they can follow the bridegroom…   

Ø  The others do not have the oil for their lamps, so they cannot enter into wedding feast, which is the symbol of the kingdom. 

Ø  There is something strange in this parable, which makes us ask: what do you want to tell us, Lord?  You always urge us to help others and here you say, in some way, that it is ok not to share the oil. Why Lord?    

Ø  I have tried to understand this parable and I have sought to answer this question, because being a parable of Jesus it must have a message of kindness and truth. 

Ø  This oil may be the grace, the good works,  and we cannot give  any of these because it is not ours.  

Ø  The Gospel ends inviting us “To be prepared…” 

Ø  This means let us allow wisdom to lead us.    

SECOND READING:   1 Tes 4, 13-14

Paul says to the community of Thessalonica:  

Ø  He does not want them to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep  

Ø  Why? In order not to be sad like those who are without hope  

Ø  What is that hope?  

Ø  It comes from the faith that those who die in the Lord Jesus united with Him by faith and love, God the Father will take them with Him.    

Ø  Death continues to be something we are invited to accept in faith; if He has died and is risen, being united with Him we too will be raised after death.    

RINCON CLARETIANO

Since then our Lord has given me the grace to have him ever present, and to have very intimate communication with Hid Divine Majesty, especially with the Most Holy Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Blessed sacrament. There were so many tokens of love shown by our Lord to this miserable sinner that many times I was obliged to exclaim: “enough, Lord enough! You either widen my heart or put an end to these attentions of love. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 12.

If a son had a very kind father and saw that he was being maltreated for no reason at all, wouldn't the son defend the father? If the son saw that this good father was being led to execution, wouldn't he do all that he could to set him free? Well, then, what should I be doing for the honor of my Father, who is offended with such indifference and who, though innocent, is being led to Calvary to be, as St. Paul says, crucified anew by sin? Wouldn't it be a crime to remain silent? What would be the sense of not doing everything we could? My God, my Father! Help me to prevent all sins, or at least one sin, even if I should be cut to pieces in the attempt.Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 17

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, SAINT ANTHONY MARY. Autobiography

PARIS, VEN. MARÍA ANTONIA , Autobiography

WIKIPEDIA, Celebration of a Jewish Wedding

XXXI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  –CYCLE A – 2017

ü  Two Sundays ago the Lord said that we have to give to Cesar what is his, the coin with his face and inscription, but we have to give back to God his image, which is each one of us. We belong to Him.  

ü  Last week Jesus said that the love of neighbor is a commandment of equal importance than the first commandment “to love God…”  

ü  Today the Lord invites us, he urges us that our works agree with our words, he wants us to be sincere and honest about our responsibilities.   

Prophet Malachi

·         The book is the echo of the situation of Judah and Jerusalem in the Persian era, around 450 B.C.  

·         The situation looks seemingly normal in relation to society in general.   

·         The main interest of this book is the “worship” 

·         Malachi recriminates the priests who are negligent and cynical in the service of the Lord. 

·         He does not forget either about the fundamental requirement of Israel’s faith: justice. 

FIRST READING      Mal 1:14–2, 2. 8-10

Ø  The Lord introduces himself as the sovereign king whose name is fearsome among the nations, among those who do not belong to the people of God.   

Ø  And He gives some warnings to the priests:  

o   They have strayed from the road of righteousness

o    They have been the cause for others to stumble, because they wanted to imitate them.  

o    The consequences of this is that the priests were not respected by the people.   

Ø  And the prophet asks a question that  we still continue to ask    

o    Is it not God our Father and Creator of all?  

o    Do we imagine that God has preferences as we do?   

o    Or does God has a double standard, one for those he loves and another for those he does not love, but we say that God loves all of us equally. 

o    Why do we desecrate the covenant betraying one another among brethren?

Ø  This Gospel   deeply challenges our behavior: if all of us are brothers and sisters:  

o    How come we destroy one another? Not only with weapons, but with our words and our discriminations.  

o    How can we remain day after day insensitive to the cry of so many  human beings mistreated by hunger, by need,   things which are the consequence of  the selfishness of other human beings, our brothers and sisters ?      

Ø  Lord transform our heart, help us so that our works correspond to what we preach, teach and   believe. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM   -  Ps.  131: 1.2.3

R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.

Ø  This psalm is the prayer of

o   A humble heart, that does not want to be more that what he is  

o   Someone who feels secure in the arms of God like the baby in his/her mother’s arms.  

o   And the last verse invites Israel, and all of us to always trust in the Lord.    

GOSPEL – Mt 23:1-12

v  In this gospel Jesus denounces the dishonesty, the lack of transparency and sincerity in the works of the representatives of his Father before the people. 

v  He asks the people to obey what they teach because they teach the truth.  

v  But he says   not to do what they do  

o   They preach but do not practice what they preach.   

o   They put many demands on the life of others with the excuse that this is what God wants but they themselves do not do it. 

o   They do everything to be seen, and Jesus someplace else says that they already have their reward.   

o   They seek and love the places and the treatment of honor, but it will not be so among you says Jesus do not allow anyone to call you with titles which will distinguish you from the rest.     

o   And why, because all of you are brothers and sisters, thus do not allow anyone to call you teacher and do not call anyone father on earth, because there is only one Father in heaven.   

v  The one who humbles himself will be exalted, and the one who exalts himself will be humbled.   

v  I do not think that God has any problem when we call teacher or father an human being, as long as we know, believe and act recognizing that we are all brothers and sisters, that the knowledge or the responsibility that we might have inside or outside the church does not make us superior, but it makes of us servants of all.   

v  This truth about our equality is a source of peace and joy because we do not have to do anything to exceed others because, no matter what we do, the truth is always the same: all of us have been created and redeemed   and all occupy a place of preference in the heart of our Father.   .

v   I think that we need to ask the Lord every day the grace to really believe that we are all equal, so that the Lord does not have to say to us what he said to the Pharisees on this Gospel.                                                                                                                                                                 

SECOND READING   1 Thes 2: 7b-9, 13

v  Paul gives a description of his ministry which is a lesson about evangelization, ministry done with compassion and tenderness like a mother. 

v  Paul did not want only to  share the Gospel but also his own life, thus he has worked tirelessly in order not to be a burden to anyone.  

v  And he gives thanks because the community of Thessalonica received the message as coming from God and not as a message from Paul.  

   CLARETIAN CORNER

Ever since this vision I have loved very much evangelical poverty ( I loved her already very much before) because our Lord told me that Holy Poverty should be the foundation of this new Apostles, and for lack of this holy virtue all religious order has collapsed. Venerable Maria Antonia Paris, foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 11  

This idea of a lost eternity that began to move me so vividly at the tender age of five  and that has stayed with me ever since and that, God willing, I will never forget is the mainspring and goad of my zeal for the salvation of souls. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 15.