EASTER SUNDAY – CYCLE C – 2019

v  The resurrection is the high point of Jesus’ earthly life among us.  

v  The Lord has been faithful to his mission until the end, he has loved us and continues to love with an unfathomable love, too great and too selfless for us to understand.  

v  The Lord lives! He is risen as he said!  

v  Karl Rahner said once “God has become the eternal unrest of the world.”

FIRST READING

Ø  The reading is taken from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, whose author is the same as the author of the Gospel, Saint Luke.  

Ø  The book is about the history of the nascent Church, small, humble, sometimes afraid, sometimes courageous, sometimes faithful, sometimes unfaithful.   

Ø  Church persecuted.  From the very beginning of the book we read about the martyrdom of Deacon Stephen, and of James the son of Zebedee. Jesus called him one of the first and he promised him that he would drink from his same chalice.   

Ø  The book has many chapters about Paul, the great apostle. At the end of the book, Paul is in home arrest in Rome, he teaches freely, in spite of the chains that keep him in the house.

Ø  He is the image of what the church will be over the centuries. Persecuted but evangelizing.   

Acts 10:34.37-43

      Peter speaks at Cornelius home, a pagan soldier, in whose house Peter has come in response to the petition of Cornelius, who wants to know about Jesus.   

      He explains the events that have happened, not only in the last days, but since  John’s baptism.  

      He tells them that Jesus, anointed by the Spirit, went about doing good.
How good would it be if they can say that about each one of us! We still have time.    

      Afterwards Peter reminds them, how Jesus was condemned to death, how he was raised on the third day and how only some chosen witnesses saw him.   

      Jesus has been appointed by God, judge of the living and of the dead. Jesus has power over all, he is the Lord.   

      Whoever believes in him, will receive forgiveness of his/her sins.   

      To believe it is not only to say “I believe”, it is to live saying with our life, our choices, our actions… “I believe in you Lord” and I want to be like you, going about doing good  to all without distinction.   

RESPONSORIAL PSALM   Ps 118

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
 “The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;
the right hand of the LORD is exalted.
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD.”
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
 

ü  Today it is the day of the Lord’s triumph, the most wonderful day that the Lord has made.

ü  We sing his mercy and we repeat some phrases from Scripture about Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah.   

ü  Jesus can say “I will not die, I will continue living to sing what the Lord has done for me.”  

ü  He is the stone rejected by the builders.  The religious and political leaders of his people rejected him; they did not consider him useful.   

ü  How often we make mistakes, sometimes in good faith, others with ill intentions.   

ü  This rejected stone is the cornerstone of the church, the salvation, God’s work.   

ü  The psalmist exclaims:  This is wonderful, a real miracle!  

ü  So many miracles, wonderful works God does every day before our eyes, with the little ones, the despised, those considered a burden or non-useful: sick, older people, poor of all sorts,  foreigners, migrants, babies destroyed in their mother’s womb because they do not fit in our plans, prisoners tortured, abused women and children. With all of them and in all of them God does wonderful things, that confronts our self-sufficiency, our power, our knowledge…    

Below I put the paschal sequence and a reflection on it. I will omit the second reading and the Gospel.  

SEQUENCE

Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful  praises!  A lamb the sheep redeems: Christ who only is sinless Reconcile sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous The Prince of life who died reigns immortal. Speak Mary declaring  what you saw wayfaring “The tomb of Christ, who is living. The glory of Jesus’ resurrection,

Bright angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting Yes, Christ my hope is arisen! To Galilee he goes before you.” Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining  Have mercy, victor King ever reigning!   Amen, alleluia.

v  In the great solemnities, the Church has a sequence, which is recited or sung before de Reading the Gospel. 

v  They are a masterpiece of poetry and music.  

v  As we read this sequence of Easter we realize that it tells us the mystery of our redemption.  

v  Mary Magdalene is asked about her experience on the road, what she has seen on the way.   

v  She confesses her faith in the resurrection, I have seen the Risen Lord who invites his own to meet him in Galilee.

v  Galilee  

o   Concrete geographical place, but also a place in the geography of the spirit. 

o   Place of the first encounter.   

o   They have to go back there to encounter anew the enthusiasm, the joy, the energy and the strength to proclaim what eye has not seen and ear has not heard. 

o   Encounter that will  make them able to proclaim that our God has saved us, that he is in our midst, that he walks with each one of us and will be with us until the end of history. 

o   Galilee, place where Peter will be able to confess his love to his friend and Lord, after having experienced the depth of human misery denying to know the one he loved so much. 

v  Yes, let us also go back to our own Galilee, the place where we met the Lord for the first time. Hope, joy   and enthusiasm will come back into our life, our first experience will be renewed.  (Luis Alonso Schökel, comentario en La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo, 2015.)

CLARETIAN CORNER

When my spiritual director commanded me to write the outline that our Lord had indicated me for the formation of the new order, I had so much pain, that I confessed that if it were not for the grace of the Blessed Mother who comforted me and assured me of her aid in everything, I would have died of pain. I would have preferred to publish my big sins by the streets and plazas of the city rather even the stone would know the slightest benefits the Lord has showered on me. While I wrote these note (it took me along time because of the great repugnance I had to do it, for I had in mind more the great and many offences I committed against my sovereign creature, that the graces which I was receiving from His generous mercy). There were many nights that our Lord kept me company while I stayed up praying and writing on my knees.  Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress  of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 20

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. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography, 18-19.

PALM SUNDAY – CYCLE C  2019

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, the holiest week of the year, which will lead us to the glory and joy of Easter Sunday. During this week Jesus will live his paschal mystery, his Passover from this world to the Father, from humiliation to glory,

In the first reading on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday, we read from the Book of Isaiah two of the Servant Poems.

THE SERVANT POEMS

In the book of the Second or Deutero-Isaiah we find a series of Poems about a Servant.

1.      42,1-4

2.      49,1-7

3.      50,4-11

4.      52,13-53,12

Many identifications have been proposed for this Servant:

-          Historical Israel

-          Ideal Israel

-          An Old Testament historical character, maybe the Prophet itself

-          In the New Testament the Church has seen in Jesus the fulfillment of what is said about the Servant.

The words used hear and speak, refer to the prophetic mission of the Servant.

First Reading Is 50,4-11.  

Third Poem of the Servant

-          He hears because the Lord has open his ears

-          And has given him a well-trained tongue to speak to the weary

-          The servant is obedient, does not refuse to accomplish his mission

-          He endures whatever comes to his life because of his willingness to obey God

-          His trust is in the Lord

o   God is his help

o   God is near and upholds his right

-          The Servant invites those who fear the Lord to

o   Listen to the voice of the Servant

o   To put their trust in God

o   Those who do not follow the Lord will suffer.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24

R.  My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
All who see me scoff at me;
they mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads:
“He relied on the LORD; let him deliver him,
let him rescue him, if he loves him.”

R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Indeed, many dogs surround me,
a pack of evildoers closes in upon me;
They have pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.

R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
They divide my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, be not far from me;
O my help, hasten to aid me.

R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:
“You who fear the LORD, praise him;
all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him;
revere him, all you descendants of Israel!”
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

«  This psalm is a lamentation

«  Of someone close to his death

«  God, who in former times was experienced as close, is now experienced as faraway. 

«  In the last verses the situation changes, because God intervenes and this gives way to joy, praise and thanksgiving

SECOND READING   Phl 2:6-11

      Paul invites the community of Philippi to have the same attitude of Christ  

      Christ

o   Who is God, contrary to what Adam who was not God did,  did not regard equality with God  something to be grasped at,   but takes on the form of a slave (the Word’s incarnation) 

o   Slave because every man is a slave before God, God is our Master and Lord, and even if we consider ourselves important, we are only slaves, and to become like us the Word had to humiliate himself. 

o   However, God does not look at us as slaves, but as adopted sons in his only son Jesus.

o   The Word made flesh, obeyed, the opposite to what Adam the first man did. Jesus became obedient; he opened his ears and opened his mouth to proclaim his acceptance of the Father’s will.     

o   He accepted the most humiliating death, the cross.   

o   The consequence of all of this is that the Father has glorified him, giving him a name above every other other name, an  absolute authority, thus everything is submitted to him because JESUS IS LORD FOR THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.  

o   Wonderful fragment of the letter of Paul to the Philippians, in this letter Paul presents Christ Jesus, as true God and at the same time as true man. This is the belief we profess in the creed.   

PASSION OF THE LORD ACCORDING TO LUKE

-          The Lucan passion narrative is read in the same liturgical year C in which the Gospel of Luke has supplied the readings on Sundays of the Ordinary time. During Easter, we will read from the Acts of the Apostles, the other half of the Lucan two-volume work. The total setting is necessary to understand the passion message:

o   The Jesus accused before Pilate by the chief priests of “perverting the nation” is one whose infancy and upbringing was totally in fidelity to the Law of Moses (2:22, 27,39,42)

o   The Jesus who is accused of forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar” is the Jesus who had declared concerning the tribute “Give to Caesar… 20:25)

o   This casts light on the declaration of some characters in the passion, that Jesus is innocent  23:4,14,22,41,47)

o   The Jesus who calmly faces death is the one who had already set face to go to Jerusalem (9:51)

o   Affirming that no prophet should perish away from Jerusalem (13:33)

o   During his ministry Jesus showed tenderness, forgiveness, compassion (widow of Nain, the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, in his passion he shows forgiveness for those who crucified him

o   We read in the temptations that the devil left until the opportune time, the time is now (22:53)

o   He has always presented the disciples in a very delicate way, never mentions now in the passion that they abandoned the Lord.

o   Luke is the only evangelist who presents a post-resurrection picture where all the appearances of Jesus are in the Jerusalem area, as if the disciples had never fled back to Galilee.

o   The Jesus accused before the chief priest , the Roman Governor and the Herodian king prepares the way for  a Paul brought before the same cast of adversaries (Acts 21:27-25:27)

o   The innocent Jesus who dies asking forgiveness for his enemies and commending his soul to God the Father prepares the way for the first Christian martyr Stephen (Acts 7:59-60)  

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 Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 19.  

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 Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 17.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT  – CYCLE  C – 2019

INTRODUCTION

v  In this V Sunday of Lent, Jesus continues to show to us through his actions the mercy of his Father and our Father.  

v  Today it is a woman, who has been caught in the act of adultery, who experiences Jesus’ kindness and respect toward her.  

FIRST READING   Is 43:16-21

·         This Reading is taken from the Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah, which goes from chapter  40 to 55 of the book of Isaiah.  

·         God speaks to his people and introduces himself as the author of the exodus from Egypt  

o   He is the one who opens a way in the sea  

o   And a road through the raging waters   

o   Who throws off horse and rider who end up being like a quenched wick. 

·         But now think of the past only to look forward to the present and to the future.   

o   I am doing something new 

o   It springs forth, do you not see it?   

o   I open a way in the desert, now it is not in the sea, but in the desert.   

o   In the dry lands I open rivers.   

o   The wild animals look for me,    

o   Because I put water in the desert,    

o   For my chosen people to drink

o   The people I have formed for me to praise me and make others praise me too.   

·         These words are addressed also to us  

o   “Do not stop in the past, or in its sufferings, or in the great things God has done for you.  

o   May the memories be only to open your eyes and, see the present around you, and see the wonderful things God does for you,  in your family, in your society, in your church, in your place of work, in the youth who blooms around you, see and  discover…  

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM. Ps  126

R. (3) The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

      Beautiful psalm that describes and paints, in a poetic way, the difference between sowing and ripping.    

      The sowing of the earth, and of our heart too, is always difficult, full of uncertainties, not knowing the results, with the danger of storms and losing the harvest.  

      The harvest is always a time of great joy, winter is gone as well as the difficulties, now it is time to rejoice and to collect the fruits.   

      This is true in our life at all levels: material and spiritual.   

SECOND READING  PHL 3:8-14

Ø  Paul speaks to his dearest community, the community of Philippi.   

Ø  He considers everything as waste, the only thing that is worth is the knowledge of Christ, his Lord, for whom he has accepted to lose everything.  

Ø  Because he only wants to be with him, not being found just in his own eyes, not being righteous according to the law, but through faith-love-trust in Christ.    

Ø  Thus, to know him and the power of his resurrection.  

Ø  In his encounter with Christ, Paul has discovered the treasure of the risen Christ. The law   was only a preparation to encounter the Lord.   

Ø  He does not consider that he has reached the goal, but he continues. According to the words of the first reading, he does not look behind to the past, but to the future, to his dream, to be able to reach the reward, that is Christ Jesus himself.    

GOSPEL John 8:1-11

      The frame of this narrative of John is the Temple, where Jesus returns every day during the week preceding his death. At night, he goes to the Mount of Olives to pray, and he stays probably with his friends Lazarus, Martha and Mary.  

      He is already in the Temple, people are listening to him and asking him about the kingdom, the good news, the Father, and he teaches them tirelessly.

      While he is still speaking some scribes and Pharisees, come dragging a woman caught in the act of adultery.     

o   Estrange situation and accusation, adultery is always between two: a man and a woman, it is never a question of only one person.    

o   They explain the situation to Jesus, their intentions are not right, they do not care either about the woman or about what she was doing. They do not care either about the sin, as an offense to God, they only want to use this woman to be able to accuse and condemn Jesus. 

o   Jesus writes with his finger on the ground. The finger of God, in the exodus the finger of God wrote the commandments on the stones.    

§  The commandments, which God had first written in the human heart.   

§  To teach us how to be sisters and brothers, to recognize that we are all equals: sinners, poor, in need of pardon from the  Father of all.   

§  Jesus, our eldest brother; the only son of the Father; the beloved, writes on the sand. What does he write? We will never know. We will imagine many things, but they will be only that, imaginations.  

§  The woman’s accuser continue to annoy Jesus with their demands of a sentence, the woman also waits for his words.   

§  She has probably heard about the rabbi Joshua, the good man who listens to all, but she has committed a great sin, she is dirty, impure, and this is a just and holy man, he will probably condemn her.  

o   Now something surprising happens, Jesus tells them that the one without sin may throw the first stone to her.    

§  We have to give credit to them, to their honesty; they put the stones down and leave one by one, beginning by the eldest. At least they recognize themselves as sinners.  

o   Jesus and the woman are left alone, face to face. 

§  Woman, where are your accusers? No one has condemned you?  

§  Nobody,  Sir.

§  Neither do I condemned you, go, do not sin anymore. Jesus has not come to condemn but to save, to restore, to seek what was lost. His word, his gaze,  his respect for this woman probably helped her not to sin anymore, to seek for the true love and not for the false love.  

o   We are all called to make Jesus’ salvation reach all, and avoid our condemnations which do not help anyone, because they do not come from love but from our falsehood and sin. 

o   We are all called to see each other as brothers and sisters, to feel sorry for our sins and for the sins of others, to give up our life as Christ gave up his life for the salvation of all, and thus make the kingdom of the Father present among us, little by little, person to person, one by one... 

o   Pope Francis has invited in his homily the last day in Morocco,  to dare to live among us as brothers and sisters.  

 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.

Since then our Lord has given me the grace to have him 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 Paris, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 10-11.

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.

In time I felt a further stimulus for zeal of which I shall speak later, namely, the thought that sin not only condemns my neighbor but is an offense against God, my Father  This idea breaks my heart with pain and makes me want to run like… And I tell myself, "If a sin is infinitely malicious, then preventing a sin is preventing an infinite offense against my God, against my good Father."  St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 15-16.