21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  – C –   2022

      The Word of God of today’s liturgy r eminds us that the Lord trusts always in humankind. 

      Let us give fruits of justice and peace on our journey.   

      Let us believe as Jesus did in the God of the impossible.

FIRST READING  Is 66:18-21

v  This text belongs to the third part of the Book of Isaiah, Third Isaiah.   The historical time is the time after the return from the exile.

v  The Lord says:

o   I know their works and their thoughts, I know them.

o   I come to gather the nations, the peoples who speak different languages. 

o   But in spite of this diversity they will come and they will see the glory of God. 

o   How will God go about to gather the peoples? He will send the fugitives to their nations to announce the good news.  

o   And on coming back to Israel they will  bring the exiled, their brothers and sisters from Israel, as an offering to the Lord. 

o   Those who had been exiled will return in glory, riding horses and camels, proud and strong animals.   

o   They will arrive into Jerusalem, the sacred mountain of God  

o   The author compares this return to the worship which the chosen people was giving to God in the temple   

o   From among them, God will call priests and Levites, men who will serve God in the temple.  

o   What a grandiose vision of the return from the exile. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM:  Ps  117:1-2

This psalm belongs to the group of hymns, psalms which are considered hymns, which praise God singing his greatness.  

R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
 Praise the LORD all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

The psalmist invites us, invites all the nations, to praise the Lord because his love is great and He is always faithful.   

GOSPEL – Lk 13:22-30

      Jesus on his way to Jerusalem passes through towns and villages.  

      In one of these places or on the road, someone asks: Lord, are they few those who will be saved? 

      Jesus does not give a concrete answer, but he says that each one is called to follow the way of goodness “the narrow gate.”

      As humans, we are very much accustomed to measure everything by means of statistic. How many?    

      I think that this question is wrong; each human being is the work of God who loves him or her because they are his work of art, his son or his daughter.    

      He works mysteriously in the human heart. We see only the outside and we dare to judge what we do not know. 

      In each human heart, we say, that a battle takes place between good and evil, and this is certainly true  

      But I prefer to think that in each human heart, during the lifetime of each one of us, a love story between the Creator and his creature is being weaved.  

      And many of us, we do not realize this until some especial moment in our life, moments of joy  but especially moments of suffering. In these situations of suffering we are more ready to discover the presence of our God in our life.  Then we become aware of his tender and merciful love for us.

      Jesus speaks of those, who believe they save themselves  with their efforts, that they have the “passport” to enter into God’s Kingdom. They do not know or have forgotten that the Kingdom is a gift.

      They know much about God and speak also very much about him, but they do not speak to Him. 

      Jesus does not recognize their teaching, probably because they did it for their own pride not for the service of their brothers and sisters.   

      Again, here in the Gospel we are given a sense of universality: East, West, North, South… This is the image of the eternity, of salvation with Jesus. 

      Let our heart be filled with this light, this hope, this trust and security in the unconditional love of God our Father.  

      But let us be at the same time vigilant and alert, to avoid the possibility to be of those who teach with pride and treat their fellow men and women with arrogance, oppressing them instead of serving them. 

SECOND READING : Hebrews 12:5-7.11-13

ü  The author  of this letter reminds us the exhortation  that had been given to us 

ü  “Do not disdain the discipline of the Lord “

ü  These words can help us in difficult times, when it seems that God is deaf when we call him, that he does not listen to our prayers. 

ü  And thus we think that what is happening is his punishment for our sins  

ü  I do not think that God sends the sickness, allows  the accidents, or the bad relationships among the members of the family, between the couples, or makes our children do drugs….   

ü  But I really believe that when we find ourselves in any difficulty, when we found ourselves completely lost; it is the moment when we are ready to discover the presence of God in our life.  

ü  The suffering we endure, may sometimes for a while, harden our heart, make us bitter, proud, rebellious,  but it will eventually help us to open up  to God, whom we have ignored for so many years.   

ü  It is the time to begin a journey of conversion, a change in direction in our life, to encounter the God who has been waiting for us since the first moment of our conception, when he has created us and loved us. It is also the time when we realize the existence of the other human beings, our brothers and sisters.     

ü  God says to us the same words he said to Jeremiah “before  you were fashioned in your mother’s womb I had chosen you, before you were born I consecrated you….  

ü  Let these thoughts and words fill us with tenderness, trust and thankfulness to our Father for loving us unconditionally  

ü  His commandments, his calls, his admonitions and exhortations have the purpose to make easy the way of salvation, there are not meant to make it difficult or complicated.

ü  Let us always remember that he knows us and loves us.     

CLARETIAN CORNER

INTRODUCTION  "INITIAL VISION" – The Charismatic Identity Of The Claretian Missionary Sisters.The Claretian Missionary Sisters have their origin in a charism that was initially given to the Founders. The foundational charism, as a grace, is a personal gift granted by God to Saint Anthony Mary Claret and to the Servant of God M. Marie Antonia Paris of Saint Peter. But since this charism has given rise to the Institute, this personal gift necessarily has a resonance in the Claretian Missionary Sisters, who, also by special gift of grace from the Lord, have embraced the same lifestyle and mission of the Founders. 

The Claretian Missionaries, in fact, have to make their own the attitude that derives from the way of thinking and carrying out the apostolic works entrusted to them. From this perspective, the grace that began as a personal gift becomes a community gift; that is, it becomes the peculiar vision, the way of understanding and acting of the collective formed by the Claretian Missionary Sisters. 

The charism of the Institute, which has its starting point in the  Initial Vision (Initial experience)  of Mother Foundress, is a peculiar way of existing that implies an attitude laden with faith and love:

-          In relation to God

-          In relation to the brothers and sisters  

-          In relation to the things .

An attitude full of faith and love, because this personal gift and this community gift will allow the Claretian Missionary Sisters to see things that no one has noticed, and to hear calls that no one has heard; because their eyes and ears have been enabled to see and to hear.  

 BIBLIOGRAPHY  

ALVAREZ, Jesús cmf. Visión Inicial – Booklet on the Charismatic Identity of the Claretian       Missionary Sisters.

MATHIEU, Yvan. « Dieu toujours à l’œuvre. » Prions en Église, Août 2019.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. Comentario a La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.

 XX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - CYCLE C - 2022 

The liturgy is a call to be faithful to the Covenant between God and us; faithful to the following of Jesus, Our Lord.  

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH

ü  In  the VII century BC, many changes occur in the international arena, changes that affect the life of many nations.   

ü  Syria is losing its power in front of the growing strength of the Babylonian Empire. On the other hand, Egypt profits the weakness of Syria to overpower this nation. 

ü  Meanwhile the strength of Babylon over the peoples of the region is growing. Each king or governor tries to ally with the other kingdoms to be able to face this growing power.   

ü  The kings of Judah play with different political tactics, sometimes they submit to the power of Babylon, sometimes they rebel against it. All of this has a devastating result over the nation.    

ü  In this political situation, Jeremiah reflects and recognizes the unfaithfulness of his nation to God's covenant, and the consequences of it. Thus, he denounces the sins but announces what will be best for his people.    

ü  He tells them to ally themselves with the growing power of Babylon, to spare the people and their institutions.  

ü  When we read the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, we perceive the great love that this man had for the God of the Covenant, and for his people.  

ü  These two loves bring many sufferings and even death to him. 

ü  Let us see the message of this Sunday's liturgy.  

FIRST READING  Jer 38: 4-6, 8-10

v  The powerful men of the nation are interested in themselves more than in the wellbeing of their nation. They do not want to listen to the words of Jeremiah.   

v  Thus, they go to the king asking him to do something. The king, as so many other kings and governors, is a coward, and hands over Jeremiah into their hands, to do with him whatever they feel fit.  Doesn't that remind us of what happened to Jesus? 

v  However, there are also people in favor of Jeremiah who ask the king to save him. 

v  The king allows them to take care of Jeremiah, and to free him.   

v  Many men and women through history have experienced the persecution and death because they have spoken for those who are oppressed and cannot speak.   

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 40: 2,3,4,18

·         This psalm describes a person who is suffering and trusts unconditionally in God. 

·         These words and these feelings are appropriate to describe the feelings of Jeremiah.  

·         However, not only of Jeremiah, but also of all of us who at some moment of our life, or maybe right now, are in a situation of suffering, or of illness, or of despair.   

·         Let us recite this psalm and make our own the words and the feelings of the psalmist.   

·         After each verse, we repeat the words LORD COME TO MY AID!    

R. Lord, come to my aid!
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
The LORD heard my cry.
He drew me out of the pit of destruction,
 out of the mud of the swamp;
he set my feet upon a crag;
 he made firm my steps.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
And he put a new song into my mouth,
 a hymn to our God.
Many shall look on in awe
 and trust in the LORD.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
Though I am afflicted and poor,
 yet the LORD thinks of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
 O my God, hold not back!
R. Lord, come to my aid! 

GOSPEL - Luke 12:49-53

      In the liturgy of the Sundays in Ordinary time the first reading and the gospel have the same theme. 

      Each reading helps to understand the other. 

      In the first reading, we have seen Jeremiah suffering persecution for his love and fidelity to God.  

      Reading the Gospel of this Sunday's Eucharist we listen to Jesus, telling us what changes does his presence produce in our life, many times we do not welcome or like them.

      Gianfranco Ravasi in his commentary about this gospel reading says that Jesus presents to us 3 images, let us examine them one by one:   

·         Fire. Jesus says that he has come to set the earth on fire. The symbol of fire is very frequently used to describe the effects of love in our life. When we love, it seems as if our inner being is on fire.  Jesus is consumed by his unconditional love for the Father and for us. We have seen that also in Jeremiah.    

·         Water.  Jesus  speaks of a baptism he has to receive and how he is anxious that this moment comes. This baptism is his death and resurrection for the love of all of us. Death which we will inflict on him because we do not like a God who is so near; this kind of God scares us, because his presence judges our evil actions. In baptism, we die to sin and begin to live a new life, the life of God in us.   

·         Division. Jesus says that he has not come to bring peace, but division. It seems that we are in front of one of those sentences, which Jesus says to awaken us and put us to think.   

v  When we accept Jesus in our life, it always brings self-inner division because we must choose between him and ourselves.   

v  To welcome Jesus is to welcome any human being as brother or sister, and this entails an inner struggle.  

v  To welcome Jesus demands of us to abandon sin and everything which is related to sin and keeps us farther away from Jesus and from our brothers and sisters. This also causes struggle inside of us.  

v  Each one of us can look at our own life and discover our struggles and divisions caused by the following of Jesus.  

v  However, this is not negative but positive, because when we surrender to him and to our brothers and sisters, we become free and happy in a way we have never dreamed of.  

v  In the first reading, we have discovered the division in the kingdom of Judah due to the preaching of Jeremiah.   

 

      Allow the love of Jesus to consume in you all that is an obstacle to his love.   

      Allow the waters of baptism to submerge you into the immense ocean of the love of our God. 

      Allow the Word to cause a division between the good that is in you and the evil that is  present likewise. Let us cooperate so that his love may vanquish our evil. 

 

SECOND READING   - Heb   12:1-4

§   We do not know the name of the author of this letter, which for many centuries has been considered written by Paul.     

§  All the books of the New Testament are about Jesus whom they present in different ways according to the experience of the author and to the communities for whom the book had been written. 

§  The letter to the Hebrews is a meditation on the priesthood of Jesus, the High priest of the New Covenant who has shed his blood for the sake of our salvation and redemption. This salvation and redemption are offered to us through sacramental signs and rites.      

§  Jesus offers a sacrifice, which is not the sacrifice of animals whose blood is offered to God. But on the contrary Jesus offers his own blood for our redemption. 

v  In today's reading the author of the letter invites us to contemplate the "cloud of witnesses", that is, the countless brothers and sisters witnesses to faith, who gave their lives through a violent death, or in the monotony of the daily life. 

v  We are also invited to run our own race with our eyes on Jesus, the faithful witness, who run his race long before us. 

v  If we look at him, if we contemplate his life, we will not become discouraged; on the contrary, we will have the strength to follow our own race until the end, where he will welcome us.   

v  In the last sentence, we read that we have not yet shed our blood for the sake of our faith, and maybe we will never shed it. However, we are invited to offer our own life for the love of Jesus and the love of our brothers and sisters, the men and women who journey with us through this earthly life.  

 CLARETIAN CORNER 

Triune God   Father, Son and Holy Spirit;

I beg you to deign to enlighten me with your infinite wisdom,

to know you and to know me, and  

to know all that you want me to do,

to serve you and love you with all the perfection

that it is possible in this life with your divine favor.

Teach me, my God, all that is convenient for

the whole family you have entrusted to me in general, and

for each of my beloved sisters in particular:

enlighten them all so that they may know

all that you want from each one,

so that we may be docile and not resist

your divine inspirations and most holy will.

Enlighten God also the Supreme Pontiff,

to know all that you want him to do

and dispose in all the Holy Church,

and all cardinals, and superior and inferior prelates

of the Holy Church and of all religions,

making us all living copies of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With your infinite Omnipotence help us

to be able to do everything as you want.

You know my God that we cannot do anything

without your grace and divine assistance.

My God grant to all of us Your Divine Love,

which is the honey that sweetens all our bitterness,

softens rough things, makes difficult ones easier and

carries us in his arms with the crosses that You, my God, carry on us,

because love carries the burden without burden, and

even if it is very heavy, with love we do not feel it.

  May I return you in pure gold of love, a thousand for one,

of what with my countless sins

I have robbed you,  

I ask the spirit of Holy Evangelical Poverty

for all persons consecrated to Your Holy Service. Amen. (María Antonia Paris) 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PARIS, Maria Antonia. Morning prayer  

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, Comentario a La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 19 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Ø  Jesus continues to teach us during the journey of our Christian life, about the following he proposes to us. 

Ø  Today the readings speak of faith/trust, hope, vigilant waiting, where do we keep our treasure.   

THE BOOK OF WISDOM

ü  This book has been called Wisdom of Solomon and in the edition Vulgate of the Bible it is called simply The Book of Wisdom. 

ü  Chronologically it is the last book written of the Old Testament. 

ü  His author, we do not know his name, but for his style and his way to think we infer that it is a Jew who lives in the diaspora, that is away from the land of Israel.  

ü  We are told that he lived in Alexandria from Egypt. 

ü  He addresses mainly the men and women of his people with whom he shares the same faith.  

ü  In his book he joins his Israelite faith and an open dialogue with the culture that surrounds him, where he probably was born, the Hellenistic culture, that is Greek culture,  with its philosophies, cults, gods, and thirst for knowledge…  

ü  I believe that to read and meditate that book can do much good to us,   because we live also our faith in the midst of a pagan world which worships the body, money, social status in a word the ego.   

ü  We will see how the author of this book does not reject what is good in the culture where he lives, but that he takes what can be useful to proclaim his faith to his contemporaries and to who desires to listen.  

ü  We can do the same. Let us not despise without examination what our brothers and sisters who do not  believe in the existence of God.   Let us enter in dialogue with them, let us listen and share without angry or disrespectful words, without condemnations, simply like brothers and sisters that wish to share and seek the truth  (Sagrada Biblia  p.1064). 

FIRST READING   Wis 18:6-9

§  The author invites us to remember what God has promised and done in the past. 

§  How the people prepared itself, not only in the night of the liberation, but before, because they truly believed that God would fulfill the promises made to their fathers.  

§  They hoped to be saved and that God with what was saving them would condemn their oppressors.  

§  Let us remember that Jesus had not come yet. He is the one who has told us to love our enemies, before, the law said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…  

§  And the descendants of the father saw the fulfillment of the promises.   

§  Do we have a faith like this? Do we hope against hope?  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  - Salmo 32: 1 y 12. 18-19. 20 y 22

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
 praise from the upright is fitting.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
 the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
 upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
 and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own

Our soul waits for the LORD,
 who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
 who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own

 

v  After each stanza we will repeat BLESSED THE PEOPLE THE LORD HAS CHOSEN TO BE HIS OWN.  

v  Yes, but let us go forth to share our joy, so that all will feel truly happy since God has chosen all of us and  we know this through Jesus.  

v  The last stanza says that we put our trust in the Lord, and we will never be deceived.  

GOSPEL  Lk 12:32-48

      Jesus says   with very kind words “Do not be afraid little flock” 

      Why, because the Father wants to give the kingdom to us: yes, the Father seeks us to invite us to enter into his kingdom of peace, love and joy…  

o   After saying these words he invites us to sell what we have and to share the profit with others, keeping our treasure in heaven.  

o   What does the Lord tell us?   the Lord invites us to  sell, that is to get rid of what we possess, but in exchange for another  good, in this case money, to share with those who do  not have what they need.   

o   And what is this treasure in heaven? I believe that this treasure is our good works that the Father keeps for us for the time when we go to his home.  

o    Some will know that they followed the voice of the Lord, others will not know, they will only know that they helped that person ... that boy, that young man, that old man, that businessman... For he who does good even though he does not believe or does not know the Lord is following the voice of the Lord Jesus.  

o   Now he invites us to be ready,  with the festive clothes because when the Lord arrives, he himself will serve us. What a joy for us that the Lord will surely come, for he has said it .

o   He puts now the waiting like the one who knows a thief is going to arrive, he will not sleep in order to defend himself.

o   To Peter, who wants to know for whom   has Jesus said this parable, Jesus responds with another saying that makes us understand that it is for all.

o   So let us be prepared, for the moment when the Lord will come  into our life, and he comes every day.   At the end of our journey He will introduce us into the house of his Father where there are many dwellings. 

SEGUNDA LECTURA Heb 11, 1-2. 8-12

o    Sisters and Brothers: Faith is the way to possess, from now on, what is expected and to know the realities that are not seen. For her, our elders were praised.

o   The author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us three things here:  

o   Faith is a way to possess from now on what we expect

o   Faith is a way of knowing the realities that are not seen

o   By faith our elders were praised. Here Paul gives us some examples that we read in the Old Testament:

§  Abraham who left his country and went to the land that the unknown God,  whom he trusted, had  told him to go

§  Sarah still being barren had a son, the son of the promise, despite having doubted

§  Both Abraham and Sara always knew how to put their security in the unknown God. 

CLARETIAN CORNER

TESTAMENT MOTHER MARÍA ANTONIA PARÍS

Jesus

                  I, María Antonia de San Pedro, First Religious of the Apostolic Institute of the Immaculate Conception of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God and Our Lady, declare and certify that in the year 1867,  being His Excellency the Archbishop Claret, our Founder in Rome, he ordered me to reduce the Constitutions, because our Most Holy Father Pious Ninth had requested it.  I did it with complete submissiveness and good will because I do not have and never have had another [will] than that of the Holy See, and that of God’s representative who in the name of our Lord have guided and commanded me. 

 

                        I certify also that being in Rome the modified constitutions, Rev. Silvestre Rongier who was in charge, in the name of His Excellency Bishop Orbera, to negotiate the approval, he wrote to me asking if we wanted to make any changes in the governance of the Institute, or in any other chapter. Having consulted with the Bishop Orbera and with other wise and God-fearing subjects, theologians and canonist they decided  with His Excellency the Bishop of Valencia in whose Archdiocese I was on that date, to put the obligation of the First Mother of the Order to visit every three years, by herself or by another Religious of her trust, the houses of the Order to maintain in its vigor the mutual union and obedience of all, because some sad cases had proven that  the visit is necessary, due that some Prioresses had departed from the obedience to the First Mother and had tried to become independent, a thing so contrary to the spirit of our Holy Institute and from the will of  Our Lord, who wants us to be always one soul and one heart.    

 

                        Thus, I declare that in case I die before the Constitutions are printed, I want and it is my will that the last Constitutions written in my name by my Secretary M. Maria Gertrudis de San Felipe, which I have signed, be printed and kept in the whole Order. These are the Constitutions that have been presented in Rome for their approval and, Rev. Orbera has a copy made also by [M. Gertrudis Barril]. I want that the First Mother, my successor, order them to be printed in the way I have left them, once they are approved by the Holy See, and according to what the Holy See orders, in case they do some changes.   

                  This I my testament and last will.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONFERENCIA EPISCOPAL ESPANOLA. Sagrada Biblia, versión oficial. Madrid 2012

PARIS, María Antonia. Escritos. Estudio crítico, Introducciones y Notas por el P. Juan Manuel Lozano, cmf. Barcelona 1985.