1st Sunday of Advent, Cycle C
1st Reading: Jeremiah 33:14-16
Grounds for hope
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[14] "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. [15] In those days and at
that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall
execute justice and righteousness in the land. [16] In those days Judah will be
saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will
be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'
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Commentary:
33:14-26. These verses, which are not in the Septuagint and which may be a la-
ter addition, are a collection of messianic announcements based on the unchan-
ging nature of the Lord's promise. He will keep the Davidic dynasty in being
through a descendant of David (vv. 15-16; cf. 23:5-6; 2 Sam 7:12-16) and will en-
sure that there are always Levites to perform the functions of priests (vv. 17-18).
This pact will be as fixed as the laws that govern the universe (vv. 19-26: cf. 33:
2). The "two families" (v. 24) refer to Israel (Jacob) and Judah (David).
The New Testament shows that all the promises in the "Book of Consolation"
find fulfillment in Jesus Christ, son of David (cf. Mt 1:1), the eternal high priest of
the New Covenant (cf. Heb 8:1-13). "God is ever faithful, and he has placed him-
self in our debt, not because he has received anything from us, but through all
the promises he has made to us. In his own eyes, the promises seem to be of
little value; he has put them in writing, a compendium of promises, so that we
will be able to read them, one after another, as they come to pass. As has been
said many times before, the prophetic era is made up of the days in which the
Lord made his promises" (St Augustine, "Enarrationes in Psalmos", 109, 1).
2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
He (Paul) Prays for the Thessalonians
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[12] And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another
and to all men, as we do to you, [13] so that he may establish your hearts un-
blamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord
Jesus with all his saints.
He Calls for Holiness and Purity
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[1] Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus,that as you
learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing,
you do so more and more. [2] For you know what instructions we gave you
through the Lord Jesus.
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Commentary:
12-13. Love is a supernatural virtue which inclines us to love God (for his own
sake) above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Given
that charity is a virtue which God infuses into the soul, it is something we must
not only practice but also ask God to increase in us.
Supernatural love, or charity, embraces everyone without exception. "Loving one
person and showing indifference to others", St John Chrysostom observes, "is
characteristic of purely human affection; but St Paul is telling us that our love
should not be restricted in any way" ("Hom. on 1 Thess, ad loc."). When a per-
son practices this virtue in an uninhibited way, his holiness gains in strength:
he becomes irreproachable "before our Lord and Father"; "in this does the true
merit of virtue really consist--and not in simply being blameless before men [...].
Yes, I shall say it again: it is charity, it is love, which makes us blameless"
("ibid.").
"With all his saints": referring to believers who died in the grace of God.
1. St Paul encourages the Thessalonians "in the Lord Jesus" to follow his ad-
vice:he does not make this plea in his own name or using his personal influence
but in the name of the Lord Jesus. Those who have positions of authority in the
Church should be obeyed, above all, for supernatural reasons (that is what God
desires) and not for any personal qualities they happen to have or simply be-
cause they are "superiors". It is this outlook which causes St Ignatius Loyola to
say that "laying aside all private judgment, we ought to keep our minds prepared
and ready to obey in all things the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our
Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church" ("Spiritual Exercises", 353).
The Thessalonians already knew the commandments, but knowing them is not
enough; they must be put into practice. St John Chrysostom comments: "Good
land does something more than give back the grain put into it; and therefore the
soul should not limit itself to doing what is laid down, but should go further [...].
Two things make for virtue--avoiding evil and doing good. Fleeing from evil is not
the be-all of virtue; it is the beginning of the path that leads to virtue. One needs,
in addition, to have an ardent desire to be good and to do good" ("Hom. on 1
Thess, ad loc.").
Gospel Reading: Luke 21:25-28; 34-36
Discourse on the Destruction of Jerusalem
and the End of the World (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to his disciples), [25] "And there will be signs in sun and moon and
stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the
sea and the waves, [26] men fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming
on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. [27] And then they
will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [28] Now
when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because
your redemption is drawing near."
The Need for Vigilance
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[34] "But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissi-
pation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you sud-
denly like a snare; [35] for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the
whole earth. [36] But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to
escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
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Commentary:
25-26. Jesus refers to the dramatic changes in natural elements when the world
is coming to an end. "The powers of the heavens will be shaken"; that is to say,
the whole universe will tremble at the Lord's coming in power and glory.
27-28. Applying to himself the prophecy of Daniel (7:13-14), our Lord speaks of
his coming in glory at the end of time. Mankind will see the power and glory of
the Son of man, coming to judge the living and the dead. Christ will deliver this
judgment in his human capacity. Sacred Scripture describes the solemnity of
this event, when the sentence passed on each person in the particular judgment
will be confirmed, and God's justice and mercy to men throughout history will
shine out for all to see. "It was necessary not only that rewards should await the
just and punishments the wicked, in the life to come, but that they should be
awarded by a public and general judgment. Thus they will become better known
and will be rendered more conspicuous to all, and a tribute of praise will be of-
fered by all to the justice and providence of God" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 8,
4).
This coming of the Lord is, then, a day of terror for evildoers and of joy for those
who have remained faithful. The disciples should hold their heads high because
their redemption is at hand. It is the day they will receive their reward. The vic-
tory won by Christ on the cross--victory over sin, over the devil and over death --
will now be seen clearly, with all its implications. Therefore St Paul recommends
that we be "awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great
God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).
"He [Christ] ascended into heaven whence he will come again to judge the living
and the dead, each according to his merits. Those who have responded to the
love and compassion of God will go into eternal life. Those who have refused
them to the end will be consigned to the fire that is never extinguished" (Paul
VI, "Creed of the People of God", 12).
34-36. At the end of His discourse Jesus emphasizes that every Christian needs
to be vigilant: we do not know the day nor the hour in which He will ask us to ren-
der an account of our lives. Therefore, we must at all times be trying to do God's
will, so that death, whenever it comes, will find us ready. For those who act in
this way, sudden death never takes them by surprise. As St. Paul recommends:
"You are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief" (1
Thessalonians 5:4). Vigilance consists in making a constant effort not to be at-
tached to the things of this world (the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupi-
scence of the eyes and pride of life: cf. John 2:16) and in being assiduous in pra-
yer, which keeps us close to God. If we live in this way, the day we die will be a
day of joy and not of terror, for with God's help our vigilance will mean that our
souls are ready to receive the visit of our Lord; they are in the state of grace: in
meeting Christ we will not be meeting a judge who will find us guilty; instead He
will embrace us and lead us into the house of His Father to remain there forever.
"Does your soul not burn with the desire to make your Father-God happy when
He has to judge you?" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 746).
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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.
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