XIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  – 2017

The liturgy of this Sunday speaks about doing good for love of God. The family in the first Reading prepared a comfortable room for the prophet Elisha, the “man of God”, the psalm repeats For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord, and the Gospel says that those who do something good for others will not be left without a reward.   

FIRST READING  2 Kings  4: 8-11. 14-16a

Ø  According to Wikipedia, the town of Shunem  (Hebrew: שׁוּנֵם‎) was a small village   in the possession of the Tribe of Issachar, near the Jezreel Valley and south of Mount Gilboa (Joshua 19,18).It may be identified as the modern village of Sulam.

Ø  It seems  that Elisha, disciple of Eliah, went frequently to the town of Shunem and to the house of a good couple. 

Ø  In the Old as well as in the New Testament we find stories about good women who welcomed into their homes men who were passing by their city, as if they were messengers of God.   

Ø  Here the woman and her husband prepare a comfortable place where Elisha could rest.  

Ø  The recompense is huge and surprising, the couple will have a son, they have  prayed so much to have a son and the child never came.       

Ø  This is the generosity of God who recompenses the good we do.  

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps  88: 2-3. 16-17. 18-19

R. (2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
The promises of the LORD I will sing forever,
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, "My kindness is established forever;"
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
You are the splendor of their strength,
and by your favor our horn is exalted.
For to the LORD belongs our shield,
and the Holy One of Israel, our king.
R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

ü  The psalmist  shows feelings of joy, of thanksgivingand of  praise to God. 

ü  He invokes God  whose love is eternal, merciful and faithful.   

ü  The psalmist says that the people    

o   Who walks under the light of God and praises him is happy.   

o   He is happy also because God is his shield and his king.  

GOSPEL Mt 10: 37-42

Ø  The Gospel is the continuation of last Sunday’s reading. Only 4 verses are omited.  

Ø  Verses 37-39 explain the demands, the conditions of the following of Jesus:

o   The first condition is the fidelity to the Lord which

§  Illumines all the other fidelities required for a life as a disciple of Jesus 

§  goes beyond the fidelity   toward our family and any other fidelity  

§  asks us to carry the cross in his following   

§  and finally, accordingly  to what the Gospel says, it teaches us that if we hold on to our life willing to keep it we will lose it, but if we allow the Lord to organize and decide over our life, if we surrender to him, if we put ourselves completely in his hands, we will keep and gain our life.   

Ø  The verses 40-42 speak of the recompense to this fidelity in his following:   

o   When we welcome someone it is Jesus whom we welcome and, in turn we are welcoming  the Father.    

o   The recompense will be according to who we think we are welcoming:  

§  Prophet, just person, disciple   

§  Even the glass of fresh water that we give to a little one (poor, marginalized…) will not be without a recompense.  

Ø  In the responsorial psalm there is phrase that says  My kindness is established forever,
 How true this is!   

SECOND READING    Rom 6: 3-4. 8-11

Paul speaks here about baptism 

v We have been baptized into Christ Jesus death.   

v And  if we have been baptized into his death,  so too into his resurrection, his new life. 

v We have been given the power to die to sin, to have the strength and the energy to live a life for God far from evil, counting of course on the participation in the life of Christ Jesus. 

Paul ends his reflection saying: Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus. 

 CLARETIAN CORNER

It will not be difficult for Your Excellency to understand the satisfaction that my heart experiences on realizing how great the kindness of God our Lord has been on keeping your precious life in spite of having the devil intended to take it from you, since without any doubt it was the whole hell that instigated that miserable man to commit such a horrid crime; but the Lord who has care of us has not permitted that evil prevailed, but he wanted to give to you the reward of shedding your blood for the divine Word. 

We imagine how happy you must be to have been wounded for teaching the holy law of our Lord Jesus Christ, and myself with all your daughters (sisters) we want to participate in the great reward that the Lord will give to you in the eternal life, since you might remember that in one of your sermons you said that we will participate in the spoils. Oh if we might have the joy to seal our life shedding our blood for the holy law of God.    (From a letter of Maria Antonia to St. Anthony Mary Claret – Santiago of Cuba February 28, 1856)   

Thanks to God my health is already good, and right now I am busy with the novena to the Most Blessed Sacrament, with a surprising participation in this Court. During Lent I have preached here and in the Escorial; I have given a mission in the town of  Valdemorillo;  everyone has received the sacrament of confession and I have confirmed more than one thousand people in the above mentioned town.  When I see the need there is of the divine doctrine and the hunger that people has to listen to it, I am anxious to go out and run through the whole world preaching the divine word.       
Every day the queen loves me more, and this afflicts me, because I see it is a snare which stops me, but I trust in the Lord, that when the time comes he will arrange at his will and pleasure.   I am very glad about the good news you give me about the friend Caixal; it seems that he has forgotten me completely. My kind regards to the community.  (From a letter of St. Anthony Mary Claret to Maria Antonia Paris, April 13  1860.)