나바르 매일미사 독서/묵상

Monday

21st Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10

Greetings
---------
[1] Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Fidelity
--------------------------------------------
[2] We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you
in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of
faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ. [4] For we know brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen
you; [5] for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power
and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of
men we proved to be among you for your sake.

Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Fidelity (Continuation)
-----------------------------------------------------------
[8b] But your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need
not say anything. [9] For they themselves report concerning us what a
welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to
serve a living and true God, [10] and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to
come.

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Commentary:

1. The heading is in keeping with the style of the period: it identifies the
writer and the addressees and contains a greeting. The names of Silvanus
and Timothy, co-workers of St Paul, appears alongside his own. The
heading is affectionate in tone but it is not the kind of opening typical of
a simple family letter. This is an official letter, which is why two witnesses
vouch for its content (in line with legal requirements: cf. Deut 17:6).

As in certain other letters (cf. 2 Thess, Phil, Philem), St Paul does
not describe himself as an Apostle; the mention of his name is enough
to convey his authority. Silvanus is the same person as Silas whom Acts
describes as "prophet" and one of the "leading men among the brethren"
in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 15 :22, 32); here the Latin transcription of his
name is used. He had worked alongside St Paul in the evangelization of
Thessalonica, so he would have been well known to the believers in that
city (cf. Acts 17:4). Timothy was son of Gentile father and a Jewish
mother (his mother was a Christian convert); Paul gave him instruction
in the faith when he passed through Lystra during his second missionary
journey, and ever since then he had always been a faithful helper of
the Apostle. When St Paul was writing this letter, Timothy had just
arrived in Corinth from Thessalonica with good reports of the spiritual
health of that church (cf. 1 Thess 3:6).

The letter is addressed to "the church of the Thessalonians". The Greek
word "ekklesia", meaning "assembly, gathering of the people", was used
from the apostolic age onwards to describe the Church, the new people
of God. St Thomas Aquinas used this verse for his definition of the
Church as "the assembly of the faithful brought together in God the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith in the Trinity and
in the divinity and humanity of Christ" ("Commentary on 1 Thess, ad
loc."). "All those, who in faith look toward Jesus, the author of
salvation and the principle of unity and peace, God had gathered
together and established as the Church, that it may be for each and
everyone the visible sacrament of this saving unity" (Vatican II, Lumen
Gentium, 9).

"Grace to you and peace": a favorite greeting of St Paul's, expressing
the wish that they will attain the fullness of heavenly good things. See
the note on Rom 1:7).

3. The spiritual life of the Christian is based on the practice of the
theological virtues, for "faith encourages men to do good, charity to
bear pain and effort, and hope to resist patiently" (Severian of
Gabala, "Commentary on 1 Thess, ad loc.").

3. 그리스도인의 영적 삶(the spiritual life)은 향주덕(the theological virtues)들의
실천(practice)에 근거하게 되는데, 이는 "신덕faith, 믿음)은 선(good)을 행하도록
사람들을 격려하고, 애덕(charity, 사랑)은 고통과 노력을 지탱하게(bear) 하고,
그리고 망덕(hope, 희망)은 인내하면서 저항하게(resist) 하기 때문입니다" [Severian
of Gabala, "Commentary on 1 Thess, ad loc.]

Faith needs to be reflected in one's conduct, for "faith apart from
works is dead" (Jas 2:26). As St John Chrysostom teaches, "belief and
faith are proved by works--not by simply saying that one believes, but
by real actions, which are kept up, and by a heart burning with love"
("Hom. on I Thess, ad loc.").

신덕(faith, 믿음)은 당사자의 처신(coduct)에 반영될 필요가 있는데, 이는 "일/노동
(works)들로부터 떨어진 믿음(faith)은 죽은 것이기 때문입니다" (야고보 2,26).
성 요한 크리소스토모(St. John Chrysostom)가 가르치듯이, "신념(belief)과
믿음(faith, 신덕)은 일/노동(works)들에 의하여, 즉, 단순히 당사자가 믿는다
(believes)라고 말함에 의하여서가 아니라, 지속되는 실제의 행동(real actions)들에
의하여, 그리고 사랑(love)으로 불타는 한 개의 심장(heart)에 의하여, 증명됩니다"
[성 요한 크리소스토모(St. John Chrysostom), "Hom. on I Thess, ad loc."].

The service of others for God's sake is a proof of charity. A person
who practices this virtue always rises to the occasion and does not try
to dodge sacrifice or effort.

하느님을 위한 다른 이들에 대한 봉사는 애덕(charity, 사랑)에 대한 한 개의
증명(a proof)입니다. 바로 이 덕을 실천하는 한 인격(a person)은 그 경우에 응하여
일어서며 그리하여 희생 혹은 노력을 재빠르게 회피하고자(dodge) 노력하지 않습니다.

Hope is a virtue which "enables one to endure adversity" (St Thomas,
"Commentary on 1 Thess, ad loc."). St Paul encourages us to rejoice
in hope and be patient in tribulation (cf. Rom 12:12), for hope fills the
soul with joy and gives it the strength to bear every difficulty for
love of God.

망덕(hope, 희망)은 "당사자가 역경(adversity)을 견뎌내는 것을 가능하게
하는 한 개의 덕(a virtue)입니다" [성 토마스 아퀴나스(St. Thomas Aquinas),
"Commentary on 1 Thess, ad loc."]. 성 바오로(St. Paul)는 희망 안에서 기뻐하고
그리고 환란 중에 인내하라고 우리를 격려하는데(로마 12,12 참조), 이는 망덕(hope,
희망)이 영혼(the soul)을 기쁨(joy)으로 채우고 그리고 하느님에 대한 사랑(love
of God)을 위하여 모든 어려움을 지탱하는 굳셈(strength)을 영혼에게 제공하기
때문입니다.

4. All men are "beloved by God" and, as St Thomas points out, this is
the case "not just in the ordinary sense of having received natural
existence from him, but particularly because he has called them to
eternal good things" ("Commentary on I Thess, ad loc."). Man's last end
is happiness, and happiness cannot be found (other than in a relative
sense) in wealth, honors, health or sensual satisfaction; it can only
be found in knowing and loving God. By raising man to the supernatural
order, God gave him a supernatural goal or end, which consists in
"seeing God himself, triune and one, as he is, clearly" (Council of
Florence, "Laetentur Coeli").

Deprived as he was of sanctifying grace on account of original sin and
his personal sins, man was unable to attain any end exceeding his
natural powers. But God loved us so much that he deigned to enable
us "to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered
us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of
his beloved Son" (Col 1:12-13). Therefore, those who have been given
the preaching of the Gospel and the fruits of Redemption through
Baptism and the other sacraments are the object of a special divine
"choice". This "choice" or election is not the same as "salvation"; it
is an initiative on God's part prior to the attainment of salvation. To
be saved one must second this action of God by responding freely to
grace.

5. St Paul reminds them that what he preached was the "gospel"
foretold by the prophets (cf. Is 40:9; 52:7; 60:6; 61:1) and fulfilled
by the Incarnation of the Word and by his work of salvation. The
Apostle was pressed into service by the Holy Spirit to forward his work
of sanctification. The Thessalonians were not won over by mere human
words but by the "power" of God, who made those words effective. The
term "power" refers not only to miraculous actions but also to the Holy
Spirit moving the souls of those who heard Paul's preaching.

It is true that this activity, like all actions of God outside himself,
is something done by all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity; but in
the language of Scripture and of the Church it is customary "to
attribute to the Father those works of the Divinity in which power
excels; to attribute to the Son, those in which wisdom excels; and to
the Holy Spirit, those in which love excels" (Leo XIII, "Divinum Illud
Munus", 5).

In the early years of the Church the proclamation of the Gospel was
often marked by special graces of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecy,
miracles, or the gift of tongues (cf. Acts 2:8). This profusion of
gifts made it clear that the messianic era had begun (cf. Acts 2:16),
for it meant the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies: "I will pour
out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see
visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days,
I will pour out my spirit" (Joel 3:1-3).

"In power and in the Holy Spirit": in line with the divine plan of
salvation, the time of the Old Testament, which prepared the way for
the coming of the Messiah, has reached its end, and a new era has
begun, the Christian era, the key feature of which is the activity of
the Spirit of God: "It must be said that the Holy Spirit is the
principal agent of evangelization: it is he who impels each individual
to proclaim the Gospel, and it is he who in the depths of consciences
causes the word of salvation to be accepted and understood" (Paul VI,
"Evangelii Nuntiandi", 75).

7-8. Thessalonica was an important center of trade and a hub of
communications for all Greece. The Christians in the city included a
number of important people and even some women of the aristocracy
(cf. Acts 17:4). The social standing of the converts and the prestige of
the city partly explain the rapid spread of Christian teaching
throughout the region.

What the Apostle says here only goes to show that when the Christian
life is given full rein it spreads far and wide. This should give us every
encouragement "always to act in public in accordance with our holy
faith" ([St] J. Escriva, "Furrow", 46).

9. We can see how happy the Apostle is to learn that the work of
evangelization has borne fruit of conversion to God--which is the whole
purpose of Gospel preaching. "For the Church, evangelization means
bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through
its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new"
(Paul VI, "Evangelii Nuntiandi", 18).

It is moving to see the way good news spread among the early Christian
communities. Obviously anecdotes about the apostolate would go from
church to church; this gave them an occasion to praise God while at the
same time providing encouragement to stay true to Christ and to spread
the Gospel.

10. The Christian message has this feature which differentiates it
from Judaism--hope in Christ and expectation of Christ. Two central
points of Christian teaching emerge from this verse: Jesus Christ is
the Son of God, who rose from the dead, and he will come again to judge
all. St John Chrysostom observes that "in a single text St Paul brings
together a number of different mysteries concerning Jesus Christ--his
glorious resurrection, his victorious ascension, his future coming, the
judgment, the reward promised to the righteous, and the punishment
reserved for evildoers" ("Hom. on 1 Thess, ad loc.").

This verse probably contains a form of words used in oral preaching,
and perhaps a profession of faith belonging to early Christian liturgy.

"To wait for his son (to come) from heaven": that Jesus Christ will
come again is a truth of faith professed in the Creed: "He will come
again in glory to judge the living and the dead." Christ will be the
Judge of all mankind. Everyone will be personally judged by God twice:
"The first judgment takes place when each one of us departs this life;
for then he is instantly placed before the judgment-seat of God, where
all that he has ever done or spoken or thought during life shall be
subjected to the most rigid scrutiny. This is called the particular
judgment. The second occurs when on the same day and in the same
place all men shall stand together before the tribunal of their Judge, that
in the presence and hearing of all human beings of all time each may
know his final doom and sentence [...]. This is called the general
judgment" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 8, 3).

The "wrath to come" is a metaphor referring to the just punishment of
sinners. Our Lord Jesus Christ will exempt from it those who have
consistently tried to live in the state of grace and fellowship with
God. St Teresa of Avila warns that "it will be a great thing at the
hour of death to know that we are going to be judged by him whom
we have loved above all things. We can approach this trial with
confidence. It will not be like going into a strange land but into our
own land, for it is the land that belongs to him whom we love so much
and who loves us" ("Way of Perfection", 70, 3).
　

(II) 1st Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12

Greeting
------------
[1] Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: [2] Grace to you and peace from God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving
-------------------
[3] We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as is fitting,
because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for
one another is increasing. [4] Therefore we ourselves boast of you in the chur-
ches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the
afflictions which you are enduring.

[5] This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made
worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

Prayer for Perseverance
-----------------------------------
[11] To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of
his call, and may fulfill every good resolve and work of faith by his power, [12] so
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, accor-
ding
to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Commentary:

1-2. This heading is similar to that of the first letter. Two slight differences bear
comment. The first is the adjective "our" applied to God the Father. This under-
lines the divine filiation of Christians. Only the second person, the Word, is the
Son of God by nature; human beings are children of God by adoption, thanks to
the Son's deigning to make us sharers in the divine filiation which is his in all its
fullness; in theology this is expressed in the well-known proposition that we are
"filii in Filio," sons in the Son. "The Son of God, his only son by nature," St
Augustine says, "deigned to become Son of man, so that we who are sons of
man by nature might become sons of God by grace" ("The City of God", 21,15).
And St lrenaeus explains that "if the Word became flesh, and if the Son of God
became Son of man, he did this so that man, by entering into communion with
the Word and receiving the privilege of adoption, might become a son of God"
("Against Heresies", 2,19).

The Second Vatican Council gives the same teaching when it says that "the fol-
lowers of Christ, called by God not in virtue of their works but by his design and
grace, and justified in the Lord Jesus, have been made sons of God in the bap-
tism of faith and partakers of the divine nature, and so are truly sanctified" ("Lu-
men Gentium", 40). The full import of what Christian life means becomes clear
if one keeps in mind "this expressible and simple fact--that he is our Father and
we are his children" (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 144).

The second difference in the heading (as compared with the first letter) is that it
specifically says that grace comes "from God the Father and [from] the Lord
Jesus Christ". Peace is inseparable from grace, and has its source in God. That
is why the Second Vatican Council emphasized that "peace on earth, which flows
from love of one's neighbor, symbolizes and derives from the peace of Christ which
proceeds from God the Father" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 78).

See the note on 1 Thess 1:1-2.

3-4. As in other letters, the Apostle expresses his deep gratitude to the Lord (cf.
Phil 4:6; Col 3:15-17; 1 Tim 2:1; etc.). By doing so he is imitating Jesus himself
who at the start of prayer used to praise the Father and give him thanks (cf. Mt
11:25; 15:36; 26:27 and par.; Jn 11:41; etc.). In its supreme act of worship, the
Mass, the Church exclaims at the start of the Preface: "We do well always and
everywhere to give you thanks." In addition to showing the nobility of our feelings,
gratefulness also puts us in the way of further gifts, because the Lord is particu-

larly well disposed to a humble and grateful heart. As St Bernard teaches, "some-
one who humbly recognizes himself as obliged for gifts and who is grateful for
them, is bound to receive many more. For if he shows that he is faithful in little
things, he has a right to be entrusted with many; whereas on the contrary, some-
one who does not appreciate the favors he has been given renders himself unwor-
thy of being given additional favors" ("Sermons on Psalm 90", 4).

That is why the Christian feels the need to express his gratitude to God: "Thank
you, my Jesus, for your choosing to become perfect Man, with a most loving and
lovable heart; a heart which loves unto death; a heart which suffers; which is fitted
with joy and sorrow; which delights in the things of men and shows us the way to
heaven; which subjects itself heroically to duty and acts with mercy; which wat-
ches over the poor and the rich, which cares for sinners and the just.... Thank you,
my Jesus. Give us hearts to measure up to Yours!" (Sy. J. Escriva, "Furrow", 813).

"Your faith is growing": faith needs to grow, it needs to be alive. It grows when it
is joined to love. The Thessalonians were active in their practice of faith and love,
and this meant that their morale was good despite persecution and affliction.
"Observe how the love and mutual solidarity of the believers is a great help in re-
sisting evils and bearing affliction," St John Chrysostom says. "That deep frater-
nity was a great source of consolation. It is only a weak faith and an imperfect
charity that afflictions cause to waver; but a solid, robust faith is in fact streng-
thened by affliction. A weak, languid soul derives no benefit from suffering,
whereas a gene- rous soul finds in suffering a source of new energy" ("Hom.
on 2 Thess, ad loc.").

5. Fidelity to God, even in a situation which is adverse and difficult; is a guaran-
tee of future reward. Our Lord sometimes allows us to experience suffering for
the sake of the Gospel; he thereby tests our love and makes us worthy of the
enduring Kingdom which awaits us in the life to come. In a particularly authori-
tative way, Paul VI taught that "the Kingdom of God begun here below in the
Church of Christ is not of this world whose form is passing, and [...] its proper
growth cannot be confounded with the progress of civilization, of science or of
human technology, but [...] consists in an ever more profound knowledge of the
unfathomable riches of Christ, an ever stronger hope in eternal blessings, an
ever more ardent response to the Love of God, and an ever more generous be-
stowal of grace and holiness among men" ("Creed of the People of God", 27).

Suffering, like faith, should he accepted as a mark of God's special love: "it has
been granted to you that...you should not only believe in him but also suffer for
his sake" (Phil 1:29). Making the same point John Paul II reminds us that "in
bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human
suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can
also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ" ("Salvifici Doloris",
19).

11. St. Paul takes up the thread of the prayer he began in v. 4, asking God to
keep the believers true to their calling. He himself is very good example of how
teachers of Christian doctrine should approach their work; he does not confine
himself to expounding the truths of faith: the first step he takes is to pray for his
work to be fruitful. St. Augustine observes that anyone who wants to teach the
word of God "tries as far as possible to make his words understandable, pleasing
and persuasive. But he should be convinced that if he is to obtain a good result
it will be due more to the piety of his prayers than to his gifts of speech. And so,
praying for those he is to address, he should be more a supplicant than a speaker.
When the time comes for him to speak, before actually doing so he should raise
his parched soul to God that he may utter only what he has himself eaten and
drunk" ("Christian Instruction", 4, 15).

The Apostle asks God to make the Thessalonians "worthy of his call", that their
efforts should have the support of divine grace, for no supernatural action can be
planned, begun or brought to a conclusion without the grace of God (cf. Boniface
II, "Per Filium Nostrum, Dz-Sch", 399). Hence the liturgical prayer: "Lord, be the
beginning and end of all that we do and say. Prompt our actions with your grace,
and complete them with your all-powerful help" ("Liturgy of the Hours", Morning
Prayer, Monday Week 1).

12. The Greek formula here translated as "according to the grace of our God and
the Lord Jesus Christ" could also be interpreted as "according to the grace of our
God and Lord Jesus Christ"--in which case we would have here a confession of
christological faith which would be of enormous value on account of its antiquity.
It would be an acknowledgment of Christ being both God ("Theos") and Lord
("Kyrios"), that is, "Iesus Christus, Dominus et Deus noster". However, the ex-
pression "our God" often appears in Pauline writings (cf., in this very chapter, vv.
2 and 11); he also frequently uses the formula "Lord Jesus Christ". This suggests
that there is a distinction between "our God" and "the Lord Jesus Christ" (or even
"our Lord Jesus Christ"); hence the preferred translation.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 23:13-22

Jesus Indicts the Scribes and Pharisees
----------------------------------------------------------
(Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees,) [13] "But woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men;
for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in. [15]
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to
make a single proselyte, and when he becomes proselyte, you make him twice
as much a child of Hell as yourselves.

[16] "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, `If any one swears by the temple, it is
nothing; but if any one swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
[17] You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made
the gold sacred? [18] And you say, `If any one swears by the altar, it is nothing;
but if one swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' [19]
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sa-
cred? [20] So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and everything on it;
[21] and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in
it; [22] and he who swears by Heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him
who sits upon it."

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Commentary:

13. Here comes our Lord's invective against the behavior of the scribes and Phari-
sees: His "woes" condemn their past conduct and threaten them with punishment
if they do not repent and mend their ways.

14. As RSV points out, "other authorities add here (or after verse 12) verse 14,
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses
and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater con-
demnation." Our Lord is not reproaching them for praying long prayers but for
their hypocrisy and cupidity. By going in for a lot of external religious practices,
the Pharisees wanted to be recognized as devout men and then trade on that
reputation particularly with vulnerable people. Widows, for example, would ask
them to say prayers; the Pharisees in turn would ask for alms. What Jesus
means here is that prayer should always come from an upright heart and a
generous spirit.

15. "Proselyte": a pagan convert to Judaism. The root of the word means "he
who comes", he who--coming from idolatry--joins the chosen people in response
to a calling from God. The Pharisees spared no effort to gain converts. Our Lord
reproaches them not for this, but because they were concerned only about hu-
man success, their motivation being vainglory.

The sad thing about these proselytes was that, after receiving the light of Old
Testament revelation, they remained under the influence of scribes and Pharisees,
who passed on to them their own narrow outlook.

22. Our Lord's teaching about taking oaths is given in the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5:33-37). Jesus does away with the nitpicking casuistry of the Phari-
sees by focusing directly on the uprightness of the intention of the oath-taker and
by stressing the respect due to God's majesty and dignity. What Jesus wants
is a pure heart, with no element of deceit.

Our Lord particularly reproves any tendency to undermine the content of an oath,
as the Doctors of the Law tended to do, thereby failing to respect holy things and
especially the holy name of God. He therefore draws attention to the command-
ment of the Law which says, `You shall not take the name of the Lord your God
in vain" (Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12; Deuteronomy 5:11).
　

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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.