ü We will hear again words of Jesus on the Law
ü The first reading is taken from the book of Leviticus,
called so, not because it mentions the Levites, but because it is about the
worship due to God, and those who are responsible for the official worship in
the Temple are the priests. All of them came from the tribe of Levi.
ü Let us say some words on this book: :
o
In this book we
find the laws related to the worship of God and to the behavior of the
Israelites in relation to God, to their neighbors and to themselves.
o
Jesus takes from
this book something that God tells the Israelites “Be holy, because I your God
am holy.” As always Jesus explains
the true meaning of these words.
o
The book of the
Leviticus begins where Exodus ends, and it continues to narrate the events at
Mount Sinai
o
All the
sacrifices prescribed in it are in “honor of the Lord” who is the only one who
has rights over the blood of all living beings, because the blood is life, and
the lord of life is the Lord.
o
The sacrifices
represent and move towards feelings of
§
Loving respect
toward God
§ Recognition of his lordship
§ The Joy of his presence
§ Sense of praise
§
Communion with
God and with our brothers and sisters, especially those in need.
§
Feelings of
thanksgiving and the desire to get back the friendship with God if we have lost
it
FIRST READING Lv 19: 1-2, 17-18
Ø
This Reading from
the Leviticus is about the Law of
Holiness “Be holy, because the Lord your God is holy.”
Ø
What does it mean
that God is holy? What is the meaning of the word “holy?”
Ø
The sacred author
does not give a definition of holiness, but he explains the behavior which is a
consequence of this holiness
o
You shall not
bear hatred in your heart against your brother.
o
Though you may
have to correct him, do not do it in such a way that you incur in sin because
of him,.
o
Take no
revenge, cherish
no grudge against any of your people.
o
You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
o
God puts his
signature at the end of this
commandments “I am the Lord.”
o
That means that I
can order all of this because I am your Lord, I have created and I have made
you to love, and I know that when you do not love you are not happy and you are not fully human as I have
dreamed you, you are not my image, and I have created you to be my image among
the rest of creation.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 103:
1-21, 3-4, 8-10, 12-13
THE
LORD IS KIND AND MERCIFUL
Bless the Lord, O my soul
And all my being, bless his holy name
Bless the Lord, O my soul
Bless the Lord, O my soul
And forget not
all his benefits.
He pardons all your iniquities
Heals all your ills
He redeems your life from destruction
Crowns you with kindness and compassion
Merciful and gracious is the Lord
Slow to anger and abounding in kindness
Not according to our sins does he deal with us
Nor does he requite us according to our crimes
As far as the east is from the west
So far has he put our transgressions form us
As a father has compassion on his children
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear him
Ø
It begins with an
invitation to bless, to say good things. What are we going to say?
Ø
He forgives all
your sins, heals your illnesses, crowns you with love and tenderness.
Ø
And now the psalm
says how is God, not only what he does for me, but what he does for all of
us:
o
He is kind,
compassionate, slow to anger and merciful
o
The Lord is loving
Ø
It is surprising
to see that in such a short paragraph the sacred author inspired by God says so
many words that speak to us about the tenderness of God: kind, compassionate,
merciful, loving.
Ø
A question comes
to our mind: having such a loving and caring God, where did we get the image of
a punishing God, We may dedicate our prayer this week and our conversation with
God asking him the grace to change this image of him if we have it. Let us listen to the Pope Francis his words
will help us in this process, he invites us to be kind do not be afraid to show
kindness.
GOSPEL Mt 5:38-48
v
Today’s Gospel is the continuation of last Sunday’s
Gospel. The theme of the law.
v
Let us listen
what Jesus has to say about the law, about what was said and what he says.
v It was said
o
An eye for an
eye ….. But I say to
you “ offer no resistance to one who ius evil”
may be we could say “do not respond to violence with violence.”
§
May your only
violence be violence against yourselves, against your evil inclinations, on
your lack of solidarity and of love toward the other human beings, against your
selfishness?
§
Only in this way
you will conquer evil, as your master did, he destroyed evil offering his own
life with love toward those who were mistreating him
o
You
shall love your neighbor adn hate your
enemy. But I say to you
o
Love your enemy
and pray for those who persecute you.
o
In this way you
will be true children of your heavenly Father,
who makes the sun rise and the rain come down on good and bad alike.
o
Because if you
love those who love you and greet only your brothers, what is new about that? Do not pagans do the
same?
o
These words of
Jesus make us think that if we do not forgive those who hurt us, ori f we do
not pray for them, we are still pagans, we behave as such, even if we are
called followers of Jesus.
v
Jesus ends with
an invitation to be perfect as the Father is perfect
o
Again I ask
myself where have we got the idea that perfection means that everything is
“good” according to our human standards.
o
Without defects
according to our standards, that continue to be pagan since they have been taken
from the Greek and other philosophies.
o
God’s perfection
is his unconditional love, his tenderness towards all, that does not change
even if I decide to continue to sin and to go away from Him, He will continue
to love me and this love will lead me home one day.
v
This gospel is a
good preparation for Lent.
SECOND READING 2Co 1:18-22
We begin today
the Reading of the second letter to the Corinthians
Paul says that
his word has not been yes and no, but only yea.
As the word, also
the life of Christ has not been yes or not, it has only been YES=AMEN
And Paul says to
us that our life has to be like this YES=AMEN of Christ to God the Father.
God who has given
us security, trust in Christ and has anointed us with the Spirit
Has also plut his
seal on us, he has sealed us with his seal. We seal what is our own possession.
We belong to God.
Paul ends this
fragment saying that the Spirit with whom we have been sealed is the “first
installment” of what he will continue to give to us.
CLARETIAN CORNER
in many occasions I will have the opportunity
to speak of the marvels of grace; here I will just say that the greatest one I
see in our Holy Work is that the parents gave permission to their daughters for
this navigation, especially being very Christian parents, as they are, - by the
grace of God – those young ladies who have come to us until now. How certain it
is that nobody can resist or force God’s will!!! It is sure that this Almighty
God has all the hearts in his hands and moves them when and how he wills. If
these creatures would not have been chosen by the powerful hand of God, it
would be impossible for their parents to give them up like sheep in the hands
of wolves, as the crew used to be commonly called for being people general vicious because of their lack of
religiosity. And parents do not doubt this; rather they imagine more evil of
what usually happens. Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of
the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 125.
After I had finished giving missions on Grand Canary
Island, the bishop asked me to go to Lanzarote. He decided that his brother,
Father Salvador, a Capuchin, should accompany me there to help with confessions
because there were very few clergy on the island Well, it happened that the priest in question was very fat, and as it was a
trip of some two leagues inland from the port to the capital, he asked me,
"How are we ever going to make it? Do you want to walk or ride?"
I answered,
"You know I never ride, but always go on foot."
"Well,"
he said, "If you won't ride, neither will I."
I told him,
"You can plainly see what a burden it would be for you to walk that far. I
can't permit it. Since you won't ride unless I ride, then I'll ride so that you
can, too."
Presently they brought us a big camel and the two of us
got up on it. Shortly before we arrived at the town, we got down and walked the
rest of the way into town, where I started preaching the mission. As we were
saying our goodbyes after the mission, a man asked me, "Are you the missionary
who preached on Grand Canary Island?" I said that I was. "Well,"
he said, "people here were saying it couldn't be you because that
missionary said he always went on foot and you came here on camelback. That's
why I heard someone say, 'I'm not going to hear him talk because he's not the
missionary from Grand Canary Island.'".Saint Antonio
María Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 484-85
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CLARET, Antonio María Claret, Autobiografía.
PAGOLA, José A.
El camino abierto por Jesús. PPC 2012
PARIS, María Antonia, Autobiografía
LA BIBLIA, traducción tomada de la página web del
Vaticano.
SAGRADA BIBLIA. Versión oficial de la Conferencia
Episcopal Española, Madrid 2012.
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