Thursday
21st Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13
Paul Rejoices over the Good Reports Brought by Timothy (Continuation)
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[7] For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we have been
comforted about you through your faith; [8] for now we live, if you stand fast in
the Lord. [9] For what thanksgiving can we render to God for you, for all the joy
which we feel for your sake before our God, [10] praying earnestly night and
day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
He Prays for the Thessalonians
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[11] Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way
to you; [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 unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our
Lord Jesus with all his saints.
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Commentary:
6-8. St Paul discreetly allows the Thessalonians to see how zealous he is for
their souls: far from being indifferent to their state of spiritual health, he sees it
as a matter of life or death. Concern for the solid faith of those entrusted to him
is his very life. Timothy has reported that the Thessalonians were "standing fast
in the Lord" and that makes him very happy.
9. The fact that the Thessalonians are steadfast in the faith in spite of persecu-
tion is not due only to their own merits; the credit must go mainly to the grace
of God; and so St Paul thanks the Lord for the help he has given them.
"For all the joy we feel...before our God": that is, in the presence of God. Prayer
provides the outlet the Christian needs for expressing his feelings and desires; it
is an intimate conversation with God which he can have at any time: "While we
carry out as perfectly as we can (with all our mistakes and limitations) the tasks
allotted to us by our situation and duties, our soul longs to escape. It is drawn
towards God like iron drawn by a magnet. One begins to love Jesus, in a more
effective way, with the sweet and gentle surprise of his encounter" (St. J. Escri-
va, "Friends of God", 296).
10. St Paul's first stay in Thessalonica was a very short one, because unrest
caused by Jews forced him to leave in a hurry (cf. Acts 17:5-10). That meant
that he was unable to give any advanced religious instruction to the believers
-- which is why he wants to see them again.
He does not confine himself to wishing he could see them; he uses his super-
natural resources (including prayer) to obtain what he wants, for prayer should
precede and accompany preaching. Otherwise there is no reason to expect
apostolic work to bear fruit. Although faith is born of preaching (cf. Rom 10:17),
preaching alone cannot produce faith; St Thomas teaches that it is necessary
for grace to act on the heart of the listener (cf. "Commentary on Rom", 10, 2).
11. Earlier St Paul referred to the obstacles Satan put in the way of his return
to Thessalonica (cf. 2:18). That is why he now prays the Lord to "direct his way"
-- prayer being the best resource he has.
"May our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct [singular verb] our
way": it is interesting to note that the verb is singular even though it has two sub-
jects. It would be wrong to dismiss this as insignificant, for it hints at the myste-
ry of the three Persons in the one God.
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 practise 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.
(II) 1st Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Greeting
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[1] Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our
brother Sosthenes,
[2] To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus,
called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
[3] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving
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[4] I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was
given you in Christ Jesus, [5] that in every way you were enriched in him with
all speech and all knowledge [6] even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed
among you--[7] so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for
the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; [8] who will sustain you to the end, guilt-
less in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] God is faithful, by whom you were
called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Commentary:
1-9. With slight variations almost all St Paul's letters begin in the same kind of
way: there is a greeting (vv. 1-3), which carries the name of the writer, information
on the addressee(s), and the conventional phrase; and an act of thanksgiving to
God (vv. 4-9), in which the Apostle refers to the main qualities and endowments
of the Christians to whom he is writing. By comparing his letters with other letters
that have come down to us from the same period, it is quite apparent that St
Paul usually begins his letters in the style of the time. yet he does not entirely
follow this rigid pattern: he changes the usual opening--"Greeting!" (cf. Acts
15:23; 23:26)--to this more personal one, which has a pronounced Christian
stamp: "Grace to you and peace." Also, the way in which he introduces himself
and describes those he is addressing tells much more than a simple "Paul to
the Corinthians: greeting!" Even his words of thanksgiving convey tenderness
and warmth--and their tone is not merely human, for he attributes to God the
virtues he praises in the faithful.
The Fathers of the Church have drawn attention to this characteristic of Paul's
letters--the way he manages to convey a deep doctrinal message in a familiar
style, nicely suited to whomever he happens to be addressing: "A doctor", St
John Chrysostom explains, "does not treat the patient in the same way at the
start of his illness as when he is recovering; nor does a teacher use the same
method with children as with those who need more advanced tuition. That is
how the Apostle acts: he writes as suits the needs and the times" ("Hom. On
Rom", Prologue).
1. St Paul attaches to his name three features which identify him--his divine
calling; his office as Apostle of Jesus Christ; and the will of God, the source of
his apostolic vocation.
"Called": this is a carefully chosen word designed to convey the vigorous and
personal way God called him. He calls all men to faith, to grace, to holiness,
and to heaven (cf., e.g. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 1:26; 7:20; Eph 1:18). By defining
himself as "called" (cf. Rom 1:1), St Paul is very probably referring to the episode
on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9:1-19), when Christ changed his life, as he
had earlier changed the lives of the Twelve.
"Apostle of Christ Jesus": Paul can find no stronger expression than this to de-
scribe his mission: he is forever applying this title to himself--thirty-five times by
our reckoning. This fact of his apostleship is the basis of his authority--authority
to praise, teach, admonish and correct orally and in writing. He is so totally
identified with this mission that he has no other purpose than to pursue it; his
life is dedicated to this end; all his thoughts, words and actions are aimed at
achieving it. Humbly (because he once persecuted the Church: 1 Cor 15:9) and
yet forthrightly (cf. 1 Cor 9:1-2) he puts himself on the same level as the Twelve
as far as vocation and apostleship are concerned.
"By the will of God": the Apostle's energy and vitality are ascribable not to him-
self but to God, who had plans for Paul ever since he was in his mother's womb
(Gal 1: 15); so much so that later in this letter he actually says, "If I preach the
Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me.
Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16).
"Our brother, Sosthenes": it is uncertain whether this was the same person as
the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth mentioned in Acts (18:17). The prominent
position given him here suggests that he was someone well-known to the com-
munity at Corinth, either for his ministry among them or because he often
accompanied St Paul; he may have been the secretary, or scribe, who actually
wrote the letter down (cf. 16:21).
2. "The church of God at Corinth": the addressee of the letter. The very grammar
of the phrase emphasizes the fact that the Church is not the totality of the local
communities: rather, each local community--here, the Christians of Corinth--
represents the whole Church, which is one and indivisible: "The Apostle calls it
[the community] 'the church of God' in order to show that unity is one of its es-
sential and necessary characteristics. The Church of God is one in its members
and forms nothing but a single Church with all the communities spread through-
out the world, for the word 'church' does not mean schism: it means unity,
harmony, concord" (St John Chrysostom, "Hom on 1 Cor", 1, "ad loc".).
In another three brush-strokes St Paul here describes those who make up the
Church--those sanctified in Jesus Christ, those called to be saints, those who
invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Those sanctified in Christ Jesus": the faithful receive at Baptism the grace which
makes them a holy people (cf. Ex 19:6; 1 Pet 2:9); the participle "sanctified"
implies something stable, such as is the intimate union between the individual
Christian and Jesus. The formula "in Christ Jesus" here refers to the fact that the
baptized are grafted on to Christ like branches attached to a wine (cf. Jn l5:1ff);
this link with Christ is what makes them saints, that is, sharers in God's own
holiness; and it involves a duty to strive for moral perfection. "As those who pro-
fess any art, even though they depart from its rules, are still called artists, so in
like manner the faithful, although offending in many things and violating the en-
gagements to which they had pledged themselves, are still called holy, because
they have been made the people of God and have consecrated themselves to
Christ by faith and Baptism. Hence, St Paul calls the Corinthians sanctified and
holy, although it is certain that among them there were some whom he severely
rebuked as carnal, and charged with grosser crimes" ("St Pius V Catechism",
I, 10, 15).
"Called to be saints": through faith and Baptism "all Christians in any state or
walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love"
(Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 40).
"Those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ": this cir-
cumlocution describes Christian believers (cf. Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16; Rom 10:12);
what makes them different from others is that they worship Jesus Christ as Lord
and God, in the same way as the faithful of the Old Covenant invoked the name
of Yahweh. To be a member of the Church of God, therefore, it is essential that
a person believe that Christ is God. "We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the Son of God. He is the eternal Word of the Father before time began, one in
substance with the Father, "homoousios to Patri", through whom all things were
made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and
was made man. 'Equal, therefore, to the Father according to his divinity, less
than the Father according to his humanity, his unity deriving not from some im-
possible confusion of substance but from his Person"' (Paul Vl, "Creed of the
People of God", 11).
3. Peace of soul, that "serenity of mind, tranquillity of soul, simplicity of heart,
bond of love, union of charity" of which St Augustine spoke ("De Verb. Dom.
Serm.", 58), originates in the friendship with God which grace brings with it; it is
one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22-23). This is the only true kind of
peace: "There is no true peace, just as there is no true grace, other than the grace
and peace which come from God," St John Chrysostom teaches, "Possess this
divine peace and you will have nothing to fear, even if you be threatened by the di-
rect danger, whether from men or even from the demons themselves; whereas see
how everything is a cause of fear for the man who is at war with God through sin"
("Hom. on 1 Cor", 1, "ad loc".).
4-9. After the greeting, words of thanksgiving conclude the introduction to the
letter, before St Paul begins the doctrinal part. He reminds the Corinthians that they
owe their privileged position to God. They, like all Christians, received God's grace
in Christ, and that grace has enriched them in every way, for it causes man to share
in God's very nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4), raising him to an entirely new level of existence.
This transfiguration enables a person, even here, to know the perfections of God's
inner life and to partake of that life--albeit in a limited, imperfect way--through the
theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, which grace brings and which elevate
the mind and will to know and love God, One and Three.
St Paul teaches the need to give thanks to God and he sets us an example in
this regard. Obdurate sinners fail to acknowledge the benefits God gives them (cf.
Rom 1:21), but Christians should always base their prayer on gratitude to God (cf.
Phil 4:6). "Nothing charms God more than a heart that is grateful either on its own
account or on account of others" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on 1 Cor", 2, "ad loc".).
5-6. The grace of God, mentioned in the previous verse, embraces gifts, including
those to do with eloquence and knowledge. So richly does God endow the Chris-
tian that St Alphonsus exclaims: "Our wretchedness should not make us uneasy,
for in Jesus crucified we shall find all richness and all grace (cf. 1 Cor 1:5, 7). The
merits of Jesus Christ have enriched us with all the wealth of God and there is no
grace we might desire that we cannot obtain by asking for it" ("The Love of God
Reduced to Practice", chap. 3). The Fathers interpret these gifts as meaning that
the Corinthians had such a good grasp of Christian teaching that they were able
to express it clearly: "There are those who have the gift of knowledge but not that
of speech; and there are others who have the gift of speech but not knowledge.
The faithful in general, who are uneducated, know these truths, but they cannot
clearly explain what they have in their soul. You on the other hand, St Paul says,
are different; you know these truths and you can speak about them; you are rich
in the gift of speech and in that of knowledge" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on 1 Cor", 2,
"ad loc".).
8-9. "The day of our Lord': in St Paul's writings and in the New Testament generally,
this refers to the day of the General Judgment when Christ will appear as Judge,
clothed in glory (cf. 2 Cor 1:14; 1 Thess 5:2).
Christians actively hope that that Day will find them "blameless" (cf. Phil 1:10;
1 Thess 3:13; 5:23); the basis for this hope is God's faithfulness--an attitude fre-
quently applied to him in the Old Testament (cf. Deut 7:9; Is 49:7) and in St
Paul's letters (cf. 1 Cor 10:13; 2 Cor 1:18; 1 Thess 5:24; 2 Thess 3:3; Heb 10:23):
the Covenant which God made with the chosen people was primarily a gift and a
grace, but it also was a legal commitment. The Covenant was grounded on God's
fidelity, which was not merely a matter of legal obligation: it involved faithful, con-
stant love. The God's fidelity will finds its fullest expression in the Redemption
brought about by Jesus Christ: "If, in fact, the reality of the Redemption," Pope
John Paul II says, "in its human dimension, reveals the unheard-of greatness of
man, "qui talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem", at the same time "the
divine dimension of the Redemption" enables us [...] to uncover the depth of that
love which does not recoil before the extraordinary sacrifice of the Son, in order to
satisfy the fidelity of the Creator and Father towards human beings, created in his
image" ("Dives In Misericordia", 7).
Gospel Reading: Matthew 24:42-51
Vigilance. The Faithful Servant
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(Jesus said to his disciples,) [42] "Watch therefore, for you do not know on
what day your Lord is coming. [43] But know this, that if the householder had
known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched
and would not have let his house be broken into. [44] Therefore you also must
be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
[45] "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over
his household, to give them their food at the proper time? [46] Blessed is that
servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. [47] Truly, I say
to you, he will set him over all his possessions. [48] But if that wicked servant
says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' [49] and begins to beat his fellow ser-
vants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, [50] the master of that servant
will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not
know, [51] and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men
will weep and gnash their teeth."
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Commentary:
42. Jesus himself draws from this revelation about the future the practical moral
that a Christian needs to be on the watch, living each day as if it were his last.
The important thing is not to be speculating about when these events will hap-
pen and what form they will take, but to live in such a way that they find us in
the state of grace.
51. "And will punish him [or, cut him in pieces]": this can be understood as a
metaphor for "will cast him away". "Weeping and gnashing of teeth": the pains
of hell.
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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].