Eleventh Sunday of ordinary time -- Year A

First: Ex 19:2-6; Second: Rm 5:6-11; Gospel: Mt 9:36-10, 8

THEME of the READINGS

A new phase in the long process of relations between human beings and God begins on Sinai: the choice and constitution of a people by God. This is what Exodus says: "You of all the nations shall be my very own." With Jesus Christ a new people of God was established in history, founded on the Twelve: "Jesus summoned his twelve disciples…. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon…." The new people of God was constituted through the total offering of Jesus Christ on the Cross through which the Father reconciled us to him: "through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation."

DOCTRinal MESSAGE

A people created by God and formed by man. In Egypt the various tribes which descended from Jacob did not form a single people under the Yahweh’s guidance. It is only on Sinai that God takes the initiative and makes the twelve tribes a people of his own through the covenant in the blood of the lamb. In continuity with the people of Israel, Jesus establishes a new people, choosing twelve disciples to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and serve as the basis of the new Christian people. Neither the people of Israel nor the Church, the new people of God, were established by themselves; if they exist, it is because God called them into existence. Without these people who left Egypt or without the Twelve, God could not have established a people of his own. He needs human persons to form his people and to accomplish his purpose in history.

The means with which God creates his people is the Covenant. It is a covenant between the king (God) and his servant (the people), with a series of clauses with which they promise one another fidelity. In this covenant between God and his people God’s fidelity is more than assured, but the fidelity of the people is not. For this reason it is constantly necessary to remember the covenant of fidelity to God and also the state in which both the tribes of Jacob and the Christians were living before they received baptism: they were oppressed, divided, hostile, hateful, and unredeemed. Is this not a more than sufficient reason for maintaining fidelity to the Covenant with generosity and hope?

God constituted the people of Israel and later the Church for a purpose. This purpose was on the one hand to proclaim and preserve monotheism through history, and on the other to make present and alive among men the universal and complete salvation that Jesus Christ brings to us all by the cross and resurrection. Jewish monotheism is completely fulfilled in the Christian mystery of the Trinity, with the ineffable assertion of three Persons in one God. Universal salvation is the task of the whole Church, which is the sign of man’s union with God and of human beings with one another (Lumen Gentium, n. 1). Divine sonship and human brotherhood constitute the Church’s essential message, and proclaiming this message is its raison d’être for being in the world.

PASTOral SUGGESTIONS

A single people. The current realities of society and of the Church stimulate pastoral promotion and the practice of unity in the midst of a diversity of races, political parties, legal structures, associations, and institutions. On these differences, the Church as an institution, with the bishops, priests and deacons, by virtue of their ministry of communion, must stand as a tall and luminous beacon of unity, solidarity, and generous service to all. In the midst of this diversity, they must be aware of the real difficulty of maintaining in a unity amidst legitimate differences existing between individuals in all fields of human labor. If conscience so dictates, people may and should belong to different parties while being members of one and the same Church; or accept immigrants from other countries in the parish community without their feeling humiliated or second class citizens or Christians. It would be good for different Church movements or associations to be present in the parishes and for everyone to participate in unity with love and respect, according to their individual charisms, in parish pastoral activities, in the sanctification and moral improvement of the faithful in the parish, etc.

A single mission. The Church, the parishes, the Church movements and the parish groups have a single objective, even if the means to achieve it are very different: to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ effective among human beings through the words, works, and testimony of good Christians. If Christ is preached, if Christ is known, it does not matter at all that this should be accomplished by someone who does not belong to my group or who uses methods that are different from mine. When Christ transforms people’s lives, I should be happy, even if God’s instrument is not me, but someone else. Today, the Church’s task is immense. How can we be wasting time with thoughts or even arguments as to whether this or that group acts this way or that, using methods I do not share, with activities that seem strange to me, whether they are more traditional or more liberal,…? As long unity of faith and of morality exists, there is room for everyone in the Church and everyone contributes to the Church’s lively and effective presence in the world.

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOA.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].