19 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME   - A – 2023 

ü  Today’s Gospel is a call to trust in Jesus who says to us “Take courage it is I.”   

ü  In the first Reading the prophet Elijah acknowledges the presence of God in the tiny whispering sound of the wind.   

ü  And Paul in his letter to the Romans tells them how much he suffers for his people, he wishes that all would  know Jesus.

   

THE BOOK OF KINGS

Ø  The two books of Kings are the continuation of the books of Samuel.  

Ø  In the Hebrew Bible they form an only book called   Melakim which means kings..

Ø  In the Greek translation (LXX) and in the Latin translation (The Vulgate) they are called third and fourth book of Kings, since the two books of Samuel are called  first and second of Kings.   

Ø  These books  are part of the Deuteronomist History which goes from the entrance into the promise land (Josuah) to the exile of Babylon (587 before Christ). This collection of books is called by the Jews: the former prophets.

Ø  Now in our Bibles they are called 1 and 2 Samuel , 1 and 2 Kings  

Ø  The reading this Sunday is taken form the part of the first book of Kings called the Cycle of Elijah (1K 14-2K 1.  

FIRST READING   1K 19:9ª,11-13a

Ø  Elijah is on the Mountain of God,  Horeb.     

Ø  Since in the Bible we have the repetition of some passages in which Horeb is also called Sinai and vice versa, some have concluded that it is the same mountain. 

Ø  For those who think so Horeb would be the name used by the Midianites and Sinai by the Canaanites and the Amorites; the name Horeb seems to indicate the dryness of the land while Sinai would indicate its proximity to the desert of Sin. 

Ø  However, there is evidence also to think that these two names indicate two different places.  

Ø  Elijah has called a long drought over the land, but he has prayed and the Lord has sent the rain.

Ø   Now he goes to the Horeb and there he waits for the Lord.

Ø  God speaks to him and says I will be passing by.

Ø  Different atmospheric phenomena happen, but Elijah does not perceive the presence of God through them, only when he experiences a tiny whispering sound.

Ø   In the Scriptures many times the theophany is represented by thunder, lightning, and many other meteorological manifestations, but here God teaches Elijah something else about Him. God is in the peace, in the tenderness.

Ø  Elijah has worked very much to transmit to his people the Word of God, he has suffered much, he is older now and thus, he is like the field that is prepared to receive the seed, the heart of Elijah, fiery man, man of fire whose word has stop the rain for a long time, now he is ready to discover another facet of the God he loves with all his being. God manifests himself in the softness of a breeze.

Ø   God does the same in our heart, this is why we need to stop and listen attentively this whisper of God in our heart. 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Ps 85: 9. 10. 11-12. 13-14

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD — for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.

R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.  

Ø  The promise of peace for those who turn to the Lord, for whoever begins a process of conversion, the closeness to God brings to him/her peace and energy.   

Ø  It seems as if the psalmist wants to tell us that love and justice are two similar realities and that truth and peace are also similar or equal. 

GOSPEL  Mt 14:22-33

v  Jesus asks his disciples to go to the other shore and there wait for Him. How did he plan to reach the other shore?

v  He dismissed the people he had cured and fed, and now alone, by himself, he goes to the mountain top to pray, to talk with the Father. He could not do it when he got there earlier that day, because he was moved by compassion on seeing so many sick and so many hungry persons.  

v  While he is at prayer the disciples are in the lake tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against them. 

v  Jesus goes toward them walking on the sea.

v  When the disciples see Him walking on the water of the lake they  think it is a ghost.

v  Jesus speaks to them and says:  it is I, do not be troubled. 

v  Peter, practical man inclined to what is concrete and palpable, asks Jesus to be able to walk on the sea as Jesus is doing, and the Lord says “come.”   

v  Peter rushes to the sea, led by his impetuous heart, and oh! what a wonderful thing, he walks on the sea, but suddenly he doubts and, then he begins to sink.  

v   Jesus grasps him and rebukes him saying: man of little faith!

v  When Jesus gets to the boat the wind calms down, and those men are amazed, they are troubled, and probably they   feel ashamed because they have doubted, thus they say to him “truly you are the Son of God!”  

v  I think this gospel can help us very much in this moment of our human history,  human beings who live on this our planet earth. We experience suffering, death, limitation, poverty and our sin.

v  Sometimes it seems as if everything is lost: the government, the economy, honesty, tenderness, solidarity, ability to love in so many places and in so many people; the religious persecutions, the abuses of the weakest, the hate, and spirit of vengeance of so many who suffer the oppression.

v  Like those disciples who lived more than 2000 years ago, filled with fear we cry out to Jesus. Have mercy of us! We do not know what to do to change this situation of our humanity and of our planet, our common home. 

v  Let us make silence in and around us, to listen to the voice of Jesus who says to us: woman, man of little faith, I have conquered death! Like Peter let us grasp the hand of Jesus and listen to Him to discover ways to cooperate in the fight against the evil that surrounds us inside and outside. 

SECOND READING   Rom 9:1-5

       Paul confesses with simplicity to the community of Rome that he is suffering for his people, because his people do not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah they have waited for such a long time.   

      He suffers so much that he wishes, if this could be possible, to be separated from the Lord for the sake of his people.

      We need to abandon ourselves into the arms of our God, of our Lord Jesus and   never boast of our own strength, our vanity and our pride. Faith is a gift, a precious gift which may wither like a flower, break as the crystal, get lost like we lose what the thieves steal.    

      The Lord is always with us, “it is I,” but we need to be with Him. 

 CLARETIAN CORNER

Today we will begin to read some fragments of a new book published recently on our Founders, Venerable Mother Maria Antonia Paris and St. Anthony Mary Claret. The author is our Claretian sister María Soledad Galerón RMI who lives in Cuba.   

If we do not know the socio-cultural, political and religious environment where a given person lives, we will never be able to know that person and value his/her work: I am me and my circumstance.   Our environment shapes us it is in it where we receive light, inspiration,  our feelings and emotions are awakened, we suffer, we seek, we make decisions, we accomplish our mission and we transform reality. In this mutual interaction we are transformed.    

Let us make a very brief presentation of the reality in which Claret and Paris lived from 1851 to 1859, date when our Foundress returns to Spain, to the Peninsula. Both Founders left Cuba but, due to their deep experience and specially for the fact of the foundation, Cuba never left their heart. There are some realities, situations, experiences, and persons that come to us to stay for good.  As I understand it the whole experience lived by our founders in those 6 years was so new, complex, diverse and profound, that it confirmed and, at the same time, made them rethink their life and their apostolic mission. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONFERENCIA EPISCOPAL ESPAÑOLA.  Sagrada Biblia. Versión oficial., Madrid 2012.    

GALERÓN, María Soledad RMI. Llamada que la Memoria de Significativos Acontecimientos Históricos Congregacionales nos hacen Hoy.  Santiago de Cuba 2023.

PAGOLA, José A.   El camino abierto por Jesús. PPC 2012.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso. La Biblia de nuestro pueblo. Biblia del peregrino América Latina. 2015.

STOCK, Klemens. La Liturgia de la Palabra. Ciclo A (Mateo) 2007.

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SUNDAY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD – A – 2023

v  The church presents to us in this Sunday the solemnity of the TRANSFIGURATION of the Lord Jesus, instead of the 18^th Sunday in ordinary time.   

v  She invites us to contemplate Jesus in his splendor, in his glory, in his true divine identity 

v  He calls his 3 apostles-closest friends to reveal to them his identity.  They are overwhelmed by the vision, the revelation.   

v  These apostles are not the holiest ones, neither the wisest, each one will have to work hard to overcome their weakness: two are called sons of thunder, the other denies the Lord in his passion, but all have in common their strong love for their Lord and Master.  

v Let us reflect together on who is Jesus for each one of us. I have listened to a song whose last sentence says: The Lord of history is the servant Jesus. 

FIRST READING - Dn 7: 9-10, 13-14.

v  The book of Daniel belongs to the prophetic-apocalyptic tradition. It uses images which we will find later in the New Testament in the book of Revelation.   

v  The apocalyptic literature uses fantastic and spectacular images, some taken from nature, some from the human imagination.   

v  Whenever God makes him present, there are grandiose signs that cause fear and respect in those who are present, and at the same time we feel attracted to him.   

v  The sacred author wants to tell us how great God is, how different from us.   

v  The white color is always associated with God, maybe because we say that God is light and the color closest to the light is the white color.   

v  Fire is also an element present in the theophanies or manifestations of God. The fire is powerful, strong; through these signs we are reminded that God is Almighty.     

v  Daniel keeps contemplating the vision, and he sees someone like a son of man, that means human but at the same time   participating of the divine being.   

v  This son of man comes in the clouds. In the book of Genesis, after the flood God makes peace with humanity and the sign of this peace is the rainbow, God’s bow which he hangs on the clouds.  In those days when people were fighting against each other in war, when they wanted to end the war and make peace, they would hang their bow at the entrance of their tents. 

v  What a wonderful and beautiful image of peace and beauty is the rainbow.   

v  This son of man receives all authority and sovereignty.   

v  It is the image of Jesus risen and glorified.   

v  Yes, Jesus receives our praise and our love.    

v  The church celebrates every year in her liturgy two times the transfiguration of the Lord: 

o   One the second Sunday of Lent, to strengthen our faith in the divinity of Jesus.   the true Son of God, so that our faith will not waiver when we see him disfigured, offended, shattered in his passion.  

o    The second one on August 6, to remind to us again who Jesus is, nobody nor anything can destroy his love which is greater than evil. He is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, God like the Father and the Holy Spirit, true image of the Father, in whom the Father finds his joy.  

 Responsorial Psalm. Ps. 96:1-2.5-6.9

R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many islands be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
Because you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth,
exalted far above all gods.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth. 

Ø  This psalm is the response to the first reading and gives the same message about the majesty of God.   

Ø  But it mentions also the “gods.” Who or what are our gods?

GOSPEL- Mt 17: 1-9

      The narration of the transfiguration is found in the three synoptic gospels.  

      Jesus takes three of his disciples to a mountain; the mountain is the symbol of the closeness of God. If God lives in heaven beyond the blue sky which we see, naturally that the high mountains will take us closer to the abode of God.  

      And there in the mountain, Jesus shows to them the true abode of God, God himself; Jesus who is the only begotten son of the Father.   

      The author of the Gospel describes Jesus, with all the signs we use to describe God in the theophany of the Old Testament.     

       In this so beautiful vision two characters of the Old Testament the prophet Elijah and the legislator Moses appear besides Jesus speaking with him.  

      Jesus had told his disciples and the people that he had not come to abolish either the law or the prophets.    

      For the Jews what we call the Old Testament is called the Law=Torah=the first five books of the Bible which we call the Pentateuch; and all the other books are the Prophets. 

      The Law which they believed was written by Moses.   

      Here the Law and the Prophets are dialoguing with Jesus about what he is going to suffer.   

      Jesus enters into a dialogue with the law, not only in this occasion but through his entire ministry. He has tried by all possible means to help us understand the law, that is, to make us understand the real being of God, not the god we have made according to our convenience.   

      And Jesus dialogues with the prophets, that is, with the characters of the Old Testament who spoke to the people about God and about the need to be faithful. They spoke also of the Messiah who was to come. As an author says the Old Testament is all about Jesus.  

      The disciples are happy; overwhelmed with joy, as we are when we have an experience of God. 

      And Peter speaks in the name of all “Lord, it is good to be here! If you want, we will build three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.   

      At that moment the voice of the Father was heard. He repeats the same words He said at the Jordan when his son Jesus was baptized “Here is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, listen to him” 

      Jesus is the beloved son of the Father, all his joy, and God calls us as a community to become the image of the Son “listen to Him”.   

      All of us when we have an experience of God, of the supernatural, we wish it last long, forever or that it might be repeated, but the Lord says to us “Rise and do not fear.”

SECOND READING  : 2 P  1: 16-19

Ø  Peter remembers in this letter the unforgettable experience of the transfiguration.   

Ø  And thus he explains it to the  community of faith.  

Ø  And Peter tells us that besides his words which he has shared with us we have the experience and testimony of the prophets to encourage us and help us to grow in our faith.    

Ø  Peter, the prophets and many others have shared with us their experience of God, the experience of the change they have undergone in their life and they encourage us to do the same. What has been our experience? Are we ready to share it with others? 

CLARETIAN CORNER

 

…and it seemed that it had its resting place and dwelling in the center of the Sacred Heart of my God and Lord.  I say  «in the center of my God’s Heart»,  because it did not seem to me that God was in my heart, but I saw as if myself, body and soul, was within the Sacred Heart of my God and Lord. (Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Report to Caixal 9).

O my God, I give you my word that I shall do this: I shall preach, write, and circulate good books and pamphlets in abundance, so as to drown evil in a flood of good. (St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters.  Autobiographya 453). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, Saint Anthony Mary. Autobiography.

PARIS, Venerable María Antonia.  Autobiography.