BAPTISM OF THE LORD – 2020

Ø  We have reached the end of the Christmas season, time in which we have thank the Lord for the mystery of his Incarnation, his coming to live among us.  

Ø  The liturgical celebration of the Baptism of the Lord has a powerful meaning.   

Ø  This Sunday participates from the meaning of the Epiphany or manifestation of the Lord and it is at the door of the Ordinary time in which we will follow the adult Jesus in his announcing of the Kingdom.  

Ø  Today God the Father reveals to us who Jesus is, He is the beloved Son.   

 

FIRST READING  - Is 42:1-4, 6-7

v This reading from the prophet Isaiah has two parts: In the first: 

     God speaks about his servant, his chosen one in whom he is well pleased  

     He has put his Spirit upon him    

     So that this servant could bring justice to the nations, to all the peoples    

     His attitude is humble, silent, patient, because he will not finish destroying what is almost destroyed, but he will establish justice.   

     The countries and the coastlands shall wait eagerly for his teaching. 

v In the second part     

     God speaks to the servant and tells him the mission he wants to give to him   

     God has formed the servant, has taken him by hand, to be a “covenant” for the people,  that is, the servant will be God’s covenant with his people.   

     He will be light for the nations, to enlighten everyone and to take the slaves to freedom, slaves of sickness, sin, addictions, and sadness; everyone who is deprived of freedom.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  - Ps 29: 1-4. 9-10

R. (11b)  The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore the LORD in holy attire.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Ø  This psalm describes God with powerful and strong images. 

Ø  This God has called the servant,

Ø  God is almighty and the whole creation sings his glory. Certainly this is so, although in this creation only men and women are aware of God’s glory and thus able to sing it consciously . The rest of creation sing God’s glory with their existence.

SECOND READING: Acts 10:34-38

ü  Luke who is the author of this book describes Jesus with words that remind us of Isaias’s servant.  

ü  Jesus salvation, the Servant, is for all “God does not show any partiality.”  

ü  God has spoken through his Servant Jesus.   

ü  God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.   

ü  With this spirit and this power Jesus of Nazareth went doing good and healing all those oppressed of  any kind  materially or spiritually.

ü  All of this because God was with him.    

GOSPEL Mt 3:13-17 

§  Since we are in the year A we will read the narration of the baptism of Jesus according to Matthew. 

§  Jesus goes, probably with the other men  from his town to the Jordan to receive John’s baptism.   

§  John is a prophet who has become famous in Israel, he calls to conversion, administers a baptism of repentance and conversion.  This baptism does not take away sins, because this will be possible only by Jesus giving up his life for our redemption.   

§  It seems that John had had some kind of revelation from God in regards to Jesus; he does not want to baptize him, and he says the truth, it should be the other way around, he is the one who needs to be baptized by Jesus. 

§  Jesus tells him that they have to fulfill all justice. This means what is conformable with God’s will.  

§  After hearing this words from Jesus, John agrees to baptized him and something unexpected happens:  

§  When Jesus comes out from the water, that is, after having fulfilled all justice, the will of God  

§  God speaks, the heaven are open for Jesus, and the voice of the Father is heard, the voice that Jesus heard in his heart when he remained in the temple, that he continued to hear deep inside him during the years in Nazareth, where he was the son of the carpenter and his mother was Mary.   

§  The voice is not addressed to Jesus but to the people around him. It is addressed to us women and  men from the XXI century.   

§  Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father in whom he is well pleased. Jesus is the servant of Isaiah in whom the Father is pleased. God the Father wants to share his Son with us. THANK YOU FATHER! For sharing with us your only treasure, your Son Jesus.   

What a beautiful harmony among the three readings, how they lead us to discover and to understand that Jesus is the servant that God the Father has sent to live among us to establish all justice, that is, to restore creation to what the Father wants and dreams it should be.  

CLARETIAN CORNER

The more we went into that immense sea of waters the more my spirit plunged into the immense sea of God , when I looked at myself  within the heart of my God  and Lord more clearly than in a mirror. God was so pleased in this way of considering his infinite greatness that often times He made me feel the tenderness of his most holy arms with which His holy Majesty pressed my soul within his sacred heart. This was the cause of that inalterable peace I enjoyed that the fact of not getting bored in the trip so long and so difficult. The immensity of the sea reminded me of the immensity of God and those skies so wide brought to my mind the immense spaces of the glory of the saints. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 159

I can see that what the Lord is doing in me is like what I observe going on in the motion of the planets: they are pulled by two forces, one centrifugal, the other centripetal. Centrifugal force pulls them to escape their orbits; centripetal force draws them toward their center. The balance of these two forces holds them in their orbits. That's just how I see myself. I feel one force within me, which I'll call centrifugal, telling me to get out of Madrid and the court; but I also feel a counterforce, the will of God, telling me to stay in court for the time being, until I am free to leave. This will of God is the centripetal force that keeps me chained here like a dog on his leash. The mixture of these two forces, namely, the desire to leave and my love for doing God's will, keeps me running around in my circle. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 623.  

BIBLIOGRAFÍA

CLARET, S. Antonio María. Autobiography.

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

PARIS, María Antonia. Autobiography.

SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD - 2020

INTRODUCTION

·       The readings show us the light and the darkness clashing, not in the sky we see with our eyes, but in our human heart.   

·       Darkness which prevent us to see and to adore God made a child, light that invites us to adore Him. 

·       Darkness that prevent us from discovering the presence of our incarnate God in every human being.  

·        This celebration is a good opportunity to look into our heart and discover in it our darkness and  our light, the light of God made a child. 

FIRST READING  – Is 60:1-6

« This passage is taken from the book of the Third Isaiah. It is full of optimism, joy and light. 

« The theme of light dominates the scene; the glory of God is the light that enlightens the city of Jerusalem.  

« The earth is covered with darkness, but the glory of God shines upon the earth.  

« This light is a lighthouse that leads the nations toward Jerusalem.  

« Look with joy, with overwhelming happiness all the nations come to you, the foreigners but also your children, those who were once dispersed, now return.   

« They will bring to you the wealth of the nations, caravans of camels bringing gold, incense and myrrh, and proclaiming the praises of God.   

« This invitation is addressed to each one of us  

o   Rise up, rise up from your comfort zone, from your inertia, your apathy, your being comfortable.

o   Look the light  is all around you in spite of the darkness

o   All that is human in you, your ability to love and to give yourself for love of others will come back to you, if you know how to discover in your life the light of God, his calling, his invitation to allow his silent presence inundate you. His presence can save you from all that is negative in you in which you find yourself so comfortable.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM   Psalm 72   

R.  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

     This psalm is a prayer for a king.    

     The theme of justice is present in the petitions for the king, so he will be able to govern with equity. 

SECOND READING  – LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

Ø  The letter to the Ephesians, together with the letters to the Colossians, to the Philippians, and to Philemon, belongs to the group of the Captivity Letters. 

Ø  For those authors who believe that the letter was written by Paul himself, the date of the letter has to be before his death, before 67.

Ø  For those who think it was written by another person, probably a disciple of Paul, the date may be around the 70’s. 

Ø  This letter has many themes that we find also in the letter to the Colossians. 

Ø  It is a doctrinal and theological letter.  

Ø  The first part (ch.1-3) is dedicated to the Church, which has been prepared from eternity by God. There has been a progressive revelation whose culminating point is the Incarnation of the Word of God.  

Ø  In the second part, what has been said in the first about the Church is applied to the behavior of the individual Christian.

EPHESIANS 3:2-3a; 5-6

Ø  The author says that the mystery hidden in God has been revealed to him, and he announces it to us through his preaching.   . 

Ø  This mystery has been revealed to the Apostles by the Spirit. 

Ø  The mystery hidden in God and revealed now is 

o   that through the Good News, the Gospel, the gentiles are coheirs, copartners   in Christ Jesus

and members of the same body. 

GOSPEL-  Matthew 2:1-12

v In this beautiful page Matthew  describes a scene that has fascinated the believers of all times.  

v Let us not only allow the child which is in each one of us to rejoice before the “Magi” 

v Let us do more, let this child convert the tired adult that is in us. 

v Today I would like that together we meditate on our own vocation:

o    Let us begin with the Magi but at the same time let us be thinking on our own life. I hope it is going to be a beautiful experience for all. 

o   The work of these men, which sometimes are called wise men,   was to observe the celestial bodies and learn from them. It was a common belief that what was happening in the sky had to do with what was happening on the earth.     

o   In their work, they discovered a very beautiful celestial body, which we have called a star, a comet… This star has a special attraction and they are moved to follow it. Maybe they had heard the Jewish people living among them that a star would announce the birth of the king

o   They prepare everything for the journey in search of the King. They do not know how long will this journey be… they do not know the way, they did not have GPS like us… they do not know if they will reach their destination… if they will find the king they seek… but they start their journey following the star.    

o   When they arrive in Jerusalem, something they did not expect happened, the star disappeared… and now what? Maybe we were wrong; maybe we have chosen the wrong way…. 

o   They seek advice from those who can help them. These advisers are not honest, not even interested in the king, they even fear the existence of a king, but they know where to find the information: the Scriptures. The king will be born in Bethlehem.   

o   The  Magi leave Herod’s palace, the star was there waiting for them. They follow it and they find the child, a child like any other child with his mother. Jesus might have been 2 years old by that time. In this scene so normal and so ordinary, they recognize in this child the king they are seeking.  

o   Let us turn to our own life. We have been called to live and to accomplish a mission. Our universal mission, the mission of all of us, is to love one another as brothers and sisters and in so doing love our Creator and Father.    

o   Like the Magi, one day we saw a “star” something that called our attention, something we usually call “vocation”: she is the woman of my life, he is the man of my life, I want to serve my brothers and sisters especially those most in need, I want to be a missionary, I want to be a priest to serve the community….  

o   Like the Magi, we begin our journey without knowing the way, the end of the road, not even what waits for us at the end of our life journey. 

o   Many, who have dreamed to be missionaries going to faraway countries, had to learn to be missionaries in rich countries; others that dreamed of a large family with many children have only one or none; the love of my life seems to have changed, I thought that the priesthood was something different more rewarding…  

o   If, like the Magi, we seek help from those who know and we persevere on the journey with hope, like them, our “star” will shine again in the horizon of our life.  

o   The joy and peace that filled the Magi will certainly fill us.  

CLARETIAN CORNER

MARÍA ANTONIA PARÍS After a long  deliberation of the directors of Antonia and of Florentina Seingler, […]they counsel  them to leave. Florentina and Maria Antonia left the convent on January 28, 1851 and thus began a new period in their lives, characterized by silence and prayer, living almost as religious sisters in Tarragona, in the house of Canon Bofarrull.  They remained there almost one year. During this time three other young women joined them.   On August 15, 1851 the five of them made the Vow of Tarragona, charismatic beginnings of the new Order:  Day of the Assumption of Mary most holy. I gather the young ladies I had admitted as companions with a great devotion and fervor , offering ourselves to God by a vow of crossing the seas and [going] to any part of the world without dividing the group, nor deviating  away from the opinion of our superior in anything. Since I had at that time no other superior than my confessor, we offered  the vow to our Lord after  Holy Communion with the intention to ratify it in the afternoon of the same day in the hands or presence  of the most Rev. Dr. Jose Caixal – my confessor and the confessor of the others as well. As we promised in the morning, we did it in the afternoon in the presence of Dr. Caixal and  after we made the vow and offered ourselves to suffer any kind of trial for love of our Lord Jesus Christ, the confessor gave us a talk so fervent  telling us such things that have been very profitable for us in so many tribulations which came to us.

SAINT ANTHONY MARY CLARET -  He receives the nomination as Archbishop of Cuba on August 11, 1849; at first he does not want to accept it. In substance he feels a deep incompatibility between being a missionary and the way to fulfill  the ministry as a bishop on his time. To be an Archbishop at that moment was considered to be an honor, and the work had a bureaucratic nature, which seemed to be in contradiction with his vocation as an Apostolic Missionary. […]He was at the beginning of his forth visitation when he received the nomination from the Queen Isabel II to be her confessor.  In this new mission, Claret will have the opportunity to accomplish greater apostolic plans: his worries for the Church at the national level and even at the universal level.  He imposes three conditions on the Queen before accepting his nomination, which she agrees with: that he will not have to deal with politics; that after fulfilling his duties in [the] palace he will have free time for his own works; that he will not have to lose his time waiting when he goes to [the] palace...

     (Both quotations taken from chapter 1 of the book Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 MUÑOZ, Hortensia and TUTZO, Regina. Two Pens Guided by the Same Spirit. 2010

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo.

STOCK, Klemens, sj. La Liturgia de la Palabra – Ciclo  A 2001.

SAGRADA BIBLIA, Versión Oficial de la Conferencia Episcopal Española.

  

CHRISTMAS 2019

 Christmas invites us to let the mystery of God, made vulnerable, surprise us. 

Christmas invites us to be silent and to allow the Presence of our Creator and Redeemer fill us.    

Christmas invites us to discover His presence in each human face, especially in the children and in the most vulnerable.

Gospel of the Midnight Mass – Luke 2:1-14

This Gospel has two different scenes. Let us contemplate each one of them:  

The first scene is the birth of Jesus:  

v Luke puts the birth of Jesus in the context of the history of his time. He gives names and events, which we can find in any historical book. Luke wants to tell us that Jesus is a real human being, not a figment of our imagination.   

v There is a census, something that all of us are familiar with, because every some years we have a census taken in our country.  Census is always about counting people. How interesting it is to realize that behind the data of the census there are realities that we do not know, joys and sufferings, in the lives of those counted, as it happened with the census of Quirinius.   

v Joseph belongs to David’s family. According to the way the census were conducted, everyone had to go back to their place of origin to be counted.  Therefore, Joseph had to go to Bethlehem the city of David. He goes there with his wife who is with child, at a very late stage of her pregnancy.  

v The time to give birth came as they arrived in Bethlehem. I leave it to each one’s imagination, especially of the women who have given birth, what this moment means for a woman. Then we may look to Mary and try to discover her feelings.   

v There is no place for them at the inn. This can be understood in several different ways:  

o   There is no place because they are poor   

o   There is no place because the inn is full.   

o   There is no place because they do not want to be disturbed by a woman in labor.     

o   There is no place because the inn is full of people and this is not an adequate setting for a woman to give birth. To give  birth requires privacy,  intimacy  and   sacredness.   

o   And the innkeeper, that I am inclined to look at as a good man, offers them the cave where the animals take refuge at night. There they will be able to be by themselves. 

v Luke says very briefly  ”the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn  son.  She wrapped him in swaddling clothes.”  

o   The time came for her, the hour that every pregnant woman expects with joy, because she is going to see for the first time the face of her baby. At the same time she is overcome by anxiety, she does not know what will happen to her, especially when it is the first child, as in the case of Mary. 

o   Joseph helped Mary to give birth to her son. I like to imagine Joseph, the just man, the good man, with tears in his eyes as the mystery was enfolding in front of him. Tears of thanksgiving and emotion on seeing the face of the Son of God made the Son of man. He would have to be the father of the son of God, his God who had asked him to change the plans he had for his own life, and thus cooperate in the work of the salvation of the human race.  

o   Mary sees, kisses, and feeds for the first time her baby, who is the Son of the Eternal Father. 

o   I believe that it is impossible for us to understand the fullness of this mystery, so full of joy and suffering at the same time.  Let us contemplate in silence, admiration and unconditional love this mystery.   

Let us contemplate the second scene of this same gospel: There are some shepherds watching their flock during the night.  

v They live in the fields; they do not live in houses, not even in stables.  They take turns in keeping their flocks.    

v Shepherds were considered to be people of not good standing in society: they were poor but they were seen as liars, as thieves, people who had to do many things in order to survive.     

v To them the angel of the Lord is sent to announce the good news of the birth of the Son of God among us. An angel was also sent to Mary, to Zechariah, to Joseph.   Let us analyze the message, because it contains several of the themes so dear to Luke:    

o   Be not  afraid.  Fear is the natural reaction of the human being in the presence of the Mystery, of God or of his messengers. Jesus will repeat these same words to his apostles on Easter Sunday evening.    

o   I have good news to proclaim to you, which will be the cause of great joy.   The joy of the presence of God in our life, in our society, in our history.  God is always a cause of joy. In the Old Testament Zion was invited many times to rejoice because “your King comes to you.”  

o   Today, it is the “now” of salvation. Luke uses several titles to describe the child who has been born and who is the cause of joy: Savior, Messiah, and Lord. Jesus is all of that and more, but this is the paradox of God’s work, so different from our works and our parameters, our King comes as a poor and vulnerable baby.    

o   Poverty, although Luke does not mention the word poverty, he says that the baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lay in a manger. These are signs of poverty.  God could only be born in poverty, because riches many times are void of meaning, and of truth. Real poverty is the truth.  

o   The praise,   many more angels join the first angel and they sing “GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND ON EARTH PEACE… to men and women of good will.   Praise and peace, two words that we find more than once in the Gospel of Luke. After the annunciation Mary sings, in the evening of Easter Sunday Jesus greets his own saying: PEACE.   

Gospel of Luke 2:15-20 – GOSPEL OF THE SUNRISE MASS

It has been said that Luke was a painter and that he painted the portrait of Mary; but some commentators say that the best paintings of Luke were painted with his words, not with brushes.    

The gospel of the Midnight Mass had two scenes. The gospel for the Sunrise Mass has also two different scenes: the shepherds, and Mary.   

v The shepherds decide to do something about the good news they have received, they go to see the truth of what has been told to them. 

v Because they go they see. What do they see? A new born baby in a manger, Joseph and Mary.  We have here another of the themes cherished by Luke, faith.   He does not mention the word, but the scene speaks more eloquently than words. They see a baby and they recognized in that vulnerable baby, as vulnerable as any other baby, the Messiah and  Lord.   

v The shepherds made known the message that had been told about the baby.   The first scene ends here.     

The second  scene is about Mary.   

v Mary kept all those things, reflecting on them in her heart. 

o   She kept them, these are her memories. The memories of everything that had to do with the baby:

§  at the annunciation, the reaction of her parents, of Joseph and  the people of Nazareth. 

§   The journey to Bethlehem, during which both Joseph and Mary could share their experience about the baby that was in Mary’s womb. The birth, the shepherds… All of these are her memories.

o   She cherishes them in her heart, meditates on them. Luke does not say that Mary understands, she cannot understand them, they go beyond our human understanding. But she cherishes them, and believes because she trusts in the God who has made the promises to her. Faith is to trust he who has called us to life and has given us his salvation.  

Mass of the Day – Gospel of John 1:1-18

Ø  The Gospel for this Mass is taken from the Prologue of John’s Gospel.  Luke has painted, described for us four different scenes related to the birth of Jesus.   

Ø  John leads us into the mystery, he removes the curtain, this is the meaning of revelation, to see what is behind the curtain. He helps us to discover the mystery hidden behind the events and the different characters. 

Ø  In the two former Masses Luke has narrated the birth of Jesus, called Messiah and Lord.   

Ø  The Church, the community of the believers and followers, led by the Spirit sent by Jesus to her, has deepened into the theological meaning of the events related to the birth of Jesus.  Let us hear what John has to say

o   In the beginning  was the Word… and the Word was God.   If we go to the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis the first words are “In the beginning…God created… and God said … God says his Word and the abyss becomes a wonderful and beautiful creation.   

o   John continues his theological reflection and says that the Word existed from the beginning, that without him nothing came to be.  The darkness did not acknowledge it. Our darkness, our own and that of our society, and  of our world  cannot understand and accept his light.    

o   John proceeds and says that the light, the Word was in the world, but the world did not acknowledge the Word. 

o   He came to his own and they did not welcome him. Sometimes we think that these words are said of the people of Bethlehem; but I believe that we need to enter into our heart, and to discover in how many ways we do not welcome him into ourselves. Only in this way we will be able to understand the dreadful mystery of the human heart that can refuse to recognize his or her Creator.  

o   To those who did accept him…   According to some commentators  verses 12 and 13 refer to the virginal birth of Jesus, and also to our baptism.  

o   And we reach now the climax of the prologue AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH  

§  The creating Word, the Word who is the Eternal Father’s Son  Became flesh. Flesh means the condition of the sinful and vulnerable human being. Without having any sin, because God cannot sin, he becomes like us, to be able to nail to the cross, as Paul says, our flesh and in so doing to give us his life, the life of the Father’s Son. He made his dwelling among us, in some translations he “put his tent among us.” This sentence makes us think of the nomads, the pilgrims who do not stay in a same place forever.  We are all pilgrims in this world. He puts his tent and lives like anyone of us.     John Paul II in the document for the preparation of the Third Millennium wrote:  he loved with a human heart, he worked with hands of a man, talked… he was and is one of us.    This gospel ends with the words that John will repeat in his 1st  Letter. He is fascinated in awe by the truth of what they had experienced living with Jesus “and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”  

§