Solemnity: Sacred Heart of Jesus, Cycle A
1st Reading: Deuteronomy 7:6-11
God's Election of Israel
---------------------------------
[6] "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has
chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are
on the face of the earth. [7] "It was not because you were more in number than
any other people that the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you
were the fewest of all peoples; [8] but it is because the LORD loves you, and is
keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you
out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [9] Know therefore that the LORD your God is
God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love
him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and requites to
their face those who hate him, by destroying them; he will not be slack with him
who hates him, he will requite him to his face. ''You shall therefore be careful to
do the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command
you this day."
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
7:6-16. It is fair to say that Deuteronomy 7:6-7 is the classic passage in Old Tes-
tament revelation on God's special election of Israel. That election, and the love
which it evidences, are themes basic to this book; it keeps on stressing them
(cf., e.g., 4:20, 34; 9:5). God makes his choice first--quite independently of the
qualities or merits of the people or of individuals. The only reason for his choice is
pure love and (in the case of the Israelites) the promises he made to their ances-
tors (cf. the note on Ex 1:8-14). Consciousness of this election, awareness that
Israel is God's special possession, runs right through Holy Scripture. The New
Testament upholds this privilege that belongs to Israel: John 1:11 ("He came to
his own home") must be interpreted in the first instance as meaning that the
Word comes specially to his people Israel; in the second instance he comes to
all mankind. Romans 9:4-5 carries the same message: "They are Israelites, and
to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the
worship, and the promise, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ
[...]."
Verses 7-8 give the theological explanation of this election: God's pure love, his
predilection, is totally unmerited by Israel; this means that God is sovereignly
free to choose whomever he wishes for the mission he has in mind; and no one
has any right to be chosen specially by God.
What happens in the collectivity of the people of Israel also applies when God
singles out individuals for special assignments. In the New Testament, it says
apropos of the apostles, that "he called to him those whom he desired" (Mt 3:13);
and the case of St Paul is particularly apposite: Jesus called hin though he "had
blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him [Christ]" (1 Tim 1:13).
"Vocation comes first," BI. Josemaria Escriva reminds us. "God loves us before
we even know how to go toward him, and he places in us the love with which we
can respond to his call. God's fatherly goodness comes out to meet us. Our Lord
is not only just. He is much more: he is merciful. He does not wait for us to go to
him. He takes the initiative, with the unmistakable signs of paternal affection"
("Christ Is Passing By", 33).
7:10. This verse touches on something very important as regards human behavior:
God rewards those who do good and punishes those who do evil. Everyday expe-
rience does not always seem to bear this out: evil people enjoy success whereas
good people are mistreated and despised. Men have always asked themselves
how God's justice can be compatible with these facts.
The prophet Jeremiah will ask the Lord: "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?" (Jer 12:1). Many psalms echo the same
idea (cf Ps 37; 38; 29; 49; 73; 92). But the place where the matter is dealt with
most dramatically is the book of Job. The Wisdom books of the Old Testament
do a lot to provide an answer to this question, but it will not be until the fullness
of Revelations in the New Testament that it is fully solved. Throughout the New
Testament reward or punishment is not depicted as a mathematical calculation,
to produce instant recompense in this life; rather, the way a person behaves in
this life decides his or her fate in the next life. If the wicked are successful in this
life, that is something very short-lived; whereas the joy of the righteous will reach
its fullness in eternal beatitude. Prior to that, the righteous often suffer contradic-
tion, pain and sorrow: it purifies their lives and gives an increase of divine grace.
2nd Reading: 1 John 4:7-16
God is Love. Brotherly Love, the Mark of Christians
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[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and he who loves is born
of God and knows God. [8] He who does not love does not know God; for God is
love. [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his
only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not
that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for
our sins.
[11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12] No man
has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is per-
fected in us.
[13] By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us
of his own Spirit. [14] And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his
Son as the Savior of the world. [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of
God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16] So we know and believe the love
God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God
abides in him.
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Commentary:
7-21. St John now expands on the second aspect of the divine commandment (cf.
1 Jn 3:23)--brotherly love. The argument is along these lines: God is love and it
was he who loved us to begin with (vv. 7-10); brotherly love is the response which
God's love calls for (vv. 11 16); when our love is perfect, we feel no fear (vv. 17-18);
brotherly love is an expression of love of God (vv. 19-21).
This is not tiresome repetition of the ideas already discussed (2:7-11; 3:11-18):
contrary to the false teaching which is beginning to be spread, charity is the sure
mark, the way to recognize the genuine disciple.
St Jerome hands down a tradition concerning the last years of St John's life: when
he was already a very old man, he used always say the same thing to the faithful:
"My children, love one another!" On one occasion, he was asked why he insisted
on this: "to which he replied with these words worthy of John: 'Because it is the
Lord's commandment, and if you keep just this commandment, it will suffice"'
("Comm. in Gal.", III, 6, 10).
7. The divine attributes, God's perfections, which he has to the highest degree,
are the cause of our virtues: for example, because God is holy, we have been
given a capacity to be holy. Similarly, because God is love, we can love. True
love, true charity, comes from God.
8. "God is love": without being strictly speaking a definition (in 1:5 he says "God
is light"), this statement reveals to us one of the most consoling attributes of
God: "Even if nothing more were to be said in praise of love in all the pages of
this epistle", St Augustine explains, "even if nothing more were to be said in all
the pages of Sacred Scripture, and all we heard from the mouth of the Holy Spirit
were that 'God is love', there would be nothing else we would need to look for"
("In Epist. Ioann. Ad Parthos", 7, 5).
God's love for men was revealed in Creation and in the preternatural and super-
natural(*) gifts he gave man prior to sin; after man's sin, God's love is to be seen,
above all, in forgiveness and redemption (as St John goes on to say: v. 9), for
the work of salvation is the product of God's mercy: "It is precisely because sin
exists in the world, which 'God so loved . . . that he gave his only Son' (Jn 3:16),
that God, who 'is love' (1 Jn 4:8), "cannot reveal himself other than as mercy".
This corresponds not only to the most profound truth of that love which God is,
but also to the whole interior truth of man and of the world which is man's tem-
porary homeland" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia", 13).
-----
(*) 번역자 주: "preternatural(자연의
바깥에 있는)" 그리고 "supernatural(초자연적)"
용어들의 신학적 의미에 있어서의 차이점은 다음의 주소에
있는, 홀수 해 연중
제3주간 제1독서(히브리 9,15.24-28)의 제27-28절들에 대한
해설의 각주를 참고하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/ot_3_mon.htm
-----
9. God has revealed his love to men by sending his own Son; that is, it is not
only Christ's teachings which speak to us of God's love, but, above all, his pre-
sence among us: Christ himself is the fullness of revelation of God (cf. Jn 1:18;
Heb 1:1) and of his love for men. "The source of all grace is God's love for us,
and he has revealed this not just in words but also in deeds. It was divine love
which led the second Person of the most holy Trinity, the Word, the Son of God
the Father, to take on our flesh, our human condition, everything except sin. And
the Word, the Word of God, is the Word from which Love proceeds (cf. "Summa
Theologiae", I, q. 43, a. 5, quoting St Augustine, "De Trinitate", IX, 10).
"Love is revealed to us in the incarnation, the redemptive journey which Jesus
Christ made on our earth, culminating in the supreme sacrifice of the cross. And
on the cross it showed itself through a new sign: 'One of the soldiers pierced his
side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water' (Jn 19:34). This
water and blood of Jesus speaks to us of a self-sacrifice brought to the last ex-
treme: 'It is finished' (Jn 19:30)--everything is achieved, for the sake of love" (St.
J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 162).
"Among us": it is difficult to convey in English everything the Greek contains. The
Greek expression means that the love of God was shown to those who witnessed
our Lord's life (the Apostles) and to all other Christians, whose participate in this
apostolic witness (cf. note on 1 Jn 1:1-3; this idea is repeated in vv. 14 and 16).
But it also means "within us", inside us, in our hearts, insofar as we partake of
God's own life by means of sanctifying grace: every Christian is a witness to the
fact that Christ has come so that men "may have life, and have it abundantly"
(Jn 10:10).
10. Given that love is an attribute of God (v. 8), men have a capacity to love in-
sofar as they share in God's qualities. So, the initiative always lies with God.
When explaining in what love consists. St John points to its highest form of
expression: "he sent (his Son) to be the expiation of our sins" (cf. 2:2). Similar
turns of phrase occur throughout the letter: the Son of God manifested himself
"to destroy the works of the devil" (3:8); "he laid down his life for us" (3:16). All
these statements show that: 1) Christ's death is a SACRIFICE in the strict
sense of the word, the most sublime act of recognition of God's sovereignty; 2)
it is an atoning sacrifice, because it obtains God's pardon for the sins of men;
3) it is the supreme act of God's love, so much so that St John actually says,
"in this is love."
What is amazing, St Alphonsus teaches, "is that he could have saved us without
suffering or dying and yet he chose a life of toil and humiliation, and a bitter and
ignominious death, even death on a cross, something reserved for the very worst
offenders. And why was it that, when he could have redeemed us without suf-
fering, he chose to embrace death on the Cross? To show us how much he loved
us" ("The Love of Jesus Christ", chap. 1).
11-12. The Apostle underlines here the theological basis of brotherly love: the
love which God has shown us by the incarnation and redemptive death of his
Son, places us in his debt: we have to respond in kind; so we "ought" to love our
neighbor with the kind of gratitude and disinterest that God showed by taking the
initiative in loving us.
Moreover, by loving one another we are in communion with God. The deepest
desire of the human heart, which is to see and to possess God, cannot be satis-
fied in this life, because "no man has ever seen God" (v. 12); our neighbor, on
the other hand, we do see. So, in this life, the way to be in communion with God
is by brotherly love. "Love of God is the first thing in the order of commands", St
Augustine explains, "and love of neighbor is the first thing in the order of practice
[...]. You, who do not yet see God, will, by loving your neighbor, merit to see him.
Love of neighbor cleanses our eyes to see God, as John clearly says, If you do
not love your neighbor, whom you see, how can you love God, whom you do not
see (cf. 1 Jn 4:20)" ("In Ioann. Evang.", 17, 8).
번역자 주: 다음의 주소에
접속하면, 특히 1요한 4,12의
대단히 중요한 교의 신학적
의미에 대하여 기술하고 있는, 영성적으로 탁월한, 1요한
4,12에 대한 성 호세마리아
에스크리버의 해설을 읽을 수 있다. 꼭
필독하도록 하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/ot_19_wed.htm
<----- 필독 권고
13. Having the gift of the Holy Spirit is the sure sign of being in communion with
God. Since the Holy Spirit is the love of the Father and of the Son, his presence
in the soul in grace is necessarily something dynamic, that is, it moves the per-
son to keep all the commandments (cf. 3:24), particularly that of brotherly love.
This interior impulse shows that the third Person of the Blessed Trinity is at work
within us; it is a sign of union with God.
The Holy Spirit's action on the soul is a marvelous and deep mystery. "This brea-
thing of the Holy Spirit in the soul," says St John of the Cross, "whereby God
transforms it into himself, is so sublime and delicate and profound a delight to it
that it cannot be described by mortal tongue, nor can human understanding, as
such, attain to any conception of it" ("Spiritual Canticle", stanza 39).
14-15. Once more (cf. v. 1:4) St John vividly reminds his readers that he and the
other Apostles have seen with their own eyes the Son of God, made man out of
love for us. They were eyewitnesses of his redemptive life and death. And in the
Son, sent by the Father as Savior of the world, the unfathomable mystery of God\
is revealed--that his very being is Love.
"It is 'God, who is rich in mercy' (Eph 2:4) whom Jesus Christ has revealed to us
as Father: it is his very Son who, in himself, has manifested him and made him
known to us (cf. Jn 1:18; Heb 1:1f)" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia", 1).
16. "Knowing" and "believing" are not theoretical knowledge but intimate, expe-
rienced attachment (cf. notes on 2:3-6; 4:1-6; Jn 6:69; 17:8). Therefore when St
John says that they knew and believed "the love God has for us" he is not refer-
ring to an abstract truth but to the historical fact of the incarnation and death of
Christ (v. 14), the supreme manifestation of the Father's love.
"He who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him": St Thomas
Aquinas explains "that in some way the loved one is to be found in the lover. And
so, he who loves God in some way possesses him, as St John says (1 Jn 4:16)
[...]. Also, it is a property of love that the lover becomes transformed into the loved
one; so, if we love vile and perishable things, we become vile and perishable, like
those who 'became detestable like the things they loved" (Hos 9:10). Whereas, if
we love God, we are made divine, for the Apostle says, 'He who is united to the
Lord becomes one spirit with him' (1 Cor 6:17)" ("In Duo Praecepta", prol., 3).
Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus Thanks His Father
------------------------------------
[25] At that time Jesus declared, "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth,
that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed
them to babes; [26] yea, Father, for such was Thy gracious will. [27] All things
have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the
Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the
Son chooses to reveal Him. [28] Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. [29] Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I
am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For My
yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
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Commentary:
25-26. The wise and understanding of this world, that is, those who rely on their
own judgment, cannot accept the revelation which Christ has brought us. Super-
natural outlook is always connected with humility. A humble person, who gives
himself little importance, sees; a person who is full of self-esteem fails to perceive
supernatural things.
25-26. 이 세상의
지혜롭다는 자(the wise)들과 슬기롭다는 자(the understanding들,
즉, 자신들 고유의 판단(judgment)에 의존하는 자들은
그리스도께서 우리들에게 이미
가져다 주신 계시(the revelation)를 받아들일 수 없습니다.
초자연적 시야(supernatural
outlook)는 겸손(humility)과 항상 관계가 있습니다. 자기
자신에게 어떠한 중요성도
주지 않는 겸손한 자는 보나(sees), 그러나 자존심(self-esteem)으로
가득 찬 자는
초자연적 사물들을 인지하는 데에 실패합니다.(*)
-----
(*) 게시자
주: 달리 말하여, 교만한 자들은 그리스도께서 우리들에게
이미 가져다 주신
계시(the revelation)을 받아들일 수 없음을 말하고 있다.
다니엘서에 근거한, 제25-26절들
뿐만이 아니라 이어지는 제27절에 대한 대단히 훌륭한 "주석
성경"의 주석들은 다음에
있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/1390.htm
-----
27. Here Jesus formally reveals His divinity. Our knowledge of a person shows
our intimacy with Him, according to the principle given by St. Paul: "For what
person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him?"
(1 Corinthians 2:11). The Son knows the Father by the same knowledge as that
by which the Father knows the Son. This identity of knowledge implies oneness
of nature; that is to say, Jesus is God just as the Father is God.
27. 여기서 예수님께서는
당신의 신성(divinity)을 정식으로(formally) 드러내십니다
(reveals). 다음과 같이 성 바오로(St. Paul)에
의하여 제시된 원리(principle)에 따르면,
한 인격(a person)에 대한 우리의 지식/앎(knowledge)은 당신과
우리의 친밀(intimacy)을
나타냅니다: "그 사람 속에 있는 영이 아니고서야,
어떤 사람이 그 사람의 생각을 알 수
있겠습니까?" (1코린토 2,11). 성자(the Son)께서는,
바로 그것에 의하여 성부(the Father)께서
성자를 아시는 바로 그 동일한 지식/앎에
의하여, 성부를 아십니다. 지식/앎에
있어서의
바로 이러한 일치(identity)는 본성(nature)에 있어서의 단일성(oneness)을
의미합니다,
즉, 성부께서 하느님이신 것과 꼭 마찬가지로 예수님께서는
하느님이십니다.
28-30. Our Lord calls everyone to come to Him. We all find things difficult in one
way or another. The history of souls bears out the truth of these words of Jesus.
Only the Gospel can fully satisfy the thirst for truth and justice which sincere
people feel. Only our Lord, our Master--and those to whom He passes on His
power--can soothe the sinner by telling him, "Your sins are forgiven" (Matthew
9:2). In this connection Pope Paul VI teaches: "Jesus says now and always,
`Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' His
attitude towards us is one of invitation, knowledge and compassion; indeed, it
is one of offering, promise, friendship, goodness, remedy of our ailments; He is
our comforter; indeed, our nourishment, our bread, giving us energy and life"
("Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1974).
"Come to Me": the Master is addressing the crowds who are following Him,
"harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). The
Pharisees weighed them down with an endless series of petty regulations (cf.
Acts 15:10), yet they brought no peace to their souls. Jesus tells these people,
and us, about the kind of burden He imposes: "Any other burden oppresses and
crushes you, but Christ's actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs
down, but Christ's gives you wings. If you take a bird's wings away, you might
seem to be taking weight off it, but the more weight you take off, the more you
tie it down to the earth. There it is on the ground, and you wanted to relieve it
of a weight; give it back the weight of its wings and you will see how it flies" (St.
Augustine, "Sermon" 126).
"All you who go about tormented, afflicted and burdened with the burden of your
cares and desires, go forth from them, come to Me and I will refresh you and you
shall find for your souls the rest which your desires take from you" (St. John of
the Cross, "Ascent of Mount Carmel", Book 1, Chapter 7, 4).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태,
출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다. 그리고 본문 중의 우리말 번역문에
대한 저작권은 엮은이에게 있으며, 본문 중의 우리말 번역문들을 복사하여 가져가는 것을
허락하지 않습니다.]