Monday

24th Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-8

God Desires the Salvation of All
--------------------------------
[1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for all men, [2] for kings and all who are
in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly
and respectful in every way. [3] This is good, and it is acceptable in
the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one God, and
there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
[6] who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was
borne at the proper time. [7] For this I was appointed a preacher and
apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles
in faith and truth.

Men at Prayer, Women at Prayer
------------------------------
[8] I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy
hand without anger or quarreling.

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Commentary:

1. St Paul here establishes regulations for the public prayer of all
the faithful; it is up to Timothy, as head of the church of Ephesus, to
specify these in detail, and to preside over them. He refers to four
types of prayer; however, since the first three are almost synonymous,
he is probably just stressing the key importance of prayer in the
Christian life. St Augustine uses this text to explain the various
parts of the Mass: "We take as 'supplications' those prayers which are
said in celebrating the Mysteries before beginning to bless (the bread
and wine) that lie on the table of the Lord. We understand 'prayers'
as meaning those prayers that are said when (the offering) is blessed,
consecrated and broken for distribution, and almost the whole Church
closes this prayer with the Lord's prayer [...]. 'Intercessions' are
made when the blessing is being laid on the people [...]. When this
rite is completed and all have received this great Sacrament, the whole
ceremony is brought to an end by 'thanksgiving'--which is also the word
which concludes this passage of the Apostle's" ("Letter 149", 2, 16).

St Paul orders that prayers be said for all, not just for friends and
benefactors and not just for Christians. The Church helps people keep
this command by the Prayers of the Faithful or at Mass when "the people
exercise their priestly function by praying for all mankind" and "pray for
Holy Church, for those in authority, for those oppressed by various needs,
for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world" ("General
Instruction on the Roman Missal", 45).

2. This desire to lead "a quiet and peaceful life" does not in any way
imply a relaxation of the demands St Paul makes in other letters. He
specifically says that prayers have to be said "for kings and all who
are in high positions" because they are responsible for ensuring that
civil law is in line with the natural law,=A0 and when it is citizens are
able to practise religious and civil virtues (to be "godly and respectful").
Rulers have a heavy responsibility and therefore deserve to be prayed
for regularly.

St Paul's instruction to pray for kings and others is particularly
interesting if one bears in mind that when he was writing this letter,
Nero was on the throne--the emperor who instigated a bloody persecution
of Christians. St Clement of Rome, one of the first successors of St
Peter at the see of Rome, has left us touching evidence of intercession
for civil authority: "Make us to be obedient to your own almighty and
glorious name and to all who have rule and governance over us on earth
[...]. Grant unto them, O Lord, health and peace, harmony and security,
that they may exercise without offense the dominion you have accorded
them [...]. Vouchsafe so to direct their counsels as may be good and
pleasing in your sight, that in peace and mildness they might put to
godly use the authority you have given them, and so find mercy with
you" ("Letter to the Corinthians", 1, 60-61).

If one bears in mind the injustices and brutality of the world in which
Christians lived when St Paul wrote this letter, the tone of his teaching
shows that Christianity has nothing to do with fomenting political or
social unrest. The message of Jesus seeks, rather, to change men's
consciences so that they for their part can change society from
within by working in an upright and noble way. The Church, through
its ordinary magisterium, teaches that "the political and economic
running of society is not a direct part of (the Church's) mission (cf.
"Gaudium Et Spes", 42). But the Lord Jesus has entrusted to her the
word of truth which is capable of enlightening consciences. Divine
love, which is her life, impels her to a true solidarity with everyone
who suffers. If her members remain faithful to this mission, the Holy
Spirit, the source of freedom, will dwell in them, and they will bring
forth fruits of justice and peace in their families and in the places
where they work and live" (SCDF, "Libertatis Conscientia", 61).

3-4. God's desire that all should be saved is a subject which appears
frequently in the Pastoral Epistles (cf. 1 Tim 4:10; Tit 3:4), and so
he is often given the title of "Savior" (cf. note on 1 Tim 1:1-2).
Here it is given special emphasis: pray for all men (v. 1),
particularly those in high positions (v. 2), that all may be saved
(v. 6).

Since God wants all men to be saved, no one is predestined to be
damned (cf. Council of Trent, "De Iustificatione"). "He came on earth
because "omnes homines vult salvos fieri", he wants to redeem the
whole world. While you are at your work, shoulder to shoulder with
so many others, never forget that there is no soul that does not
matter to Christ!" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Forge", 865).

God desires man to be free as intensely as he desires his salvation;
by making man free he has made it possible for man to cooperate
in attaining his last end. "God, who created you without you," St
Augustine reminds us, "will not save you without you" ("Sermon",
169, 13).

In order to attain salvation, the Apostle lists as a requirement that
one must "come to the knowledge of the truth". "The truth" is firstly
Jesus (cf. Jn 14:6; 1 Jn 5:20); knowledge of the truth is the same as
knowing the Christian message, the Gospel (cf. Gal 2:5, 14). The
human mind needs to come into play if one is to be saved; for, although
affections, emotions and good will are also involved, it would be wrong
to give them so much importance that the content of the truths of faith
is played down. As the original Greek word suggests, this "knowledge"
is not just an intellectual grasp of truth: it is something which should
have an impact on one's everyday life; knowledge of the faith involves
practice of the faith.

"The Church's essential mission, following that of Christ, is a mission
of evangelization and salvation. She draws her zeal from the divine
love. Evangelization is the proclamation of salvation, which is a gift
of God. Through the word of God and the Sacraments, man is freed
in the first place from the power of sin and the power of the Evil One
which oppress him; and he is brought into a communion of love with
God. Following her Lord who 'came into the world to save sinners' (1
Tim 1:15), the Church desires the salvation of everyone. In this mission,
the Church teaches the way which man must follow in this world in order
to enter the Kingdom of God" (SCDF, "Libertatis Conscientia", 63).

5. Verses 5 and 6 compress a series of statements into the rhythmic
format of a liturgical hymn, a kind of summarized confession of faith
containing the truths one needs to believe in order to be saved (cf.
v. 4).

"One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus": the
Apostle lays stress on Christ's humanity, not to deny his divinity (which
he explicitly asserts elsewhere: cf. Tit 2: 13) but because it is as man
particularly that Christ is mediator; for if the function of a mediator
is to join or put two sides in touch, in this particular case it is only
as man that he is as it were "distant both from God by nature and
from man by dignity of both grace and glory [...], and that he can
unite men to God, communicating his precepts and gifts to them, and
offering satisfaction and prayers to God for them" ("Summa Theologiae",
III, q. 26, a. 2). Christ is the perfect and only mediator between God
and men, because being true God and true man he has offered a
sacrifice of infinite value (his life) to reconcile men to God.

The fact that Jesus is the only mediator does not prevent those who
have reached heaven from obtaining graces and helping to build up
the Church's holiness (cf. "Lumen Gentium", 49). Angels and saints,
particularly the Blessed Virgin, can be described as mediators by
virtue of their union with Christ: "Mary's function as mother of men
in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but
rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on
men originates not in any inner necessity but in the disposition of
God. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ"
("Lumen Gentium", 60).

6. "Ransom": in the Old Testament God is said to ransom or redeem
his people particularly when he sets them free from slavery in Egypt
and makes them his own property (cf. Ex 6:6-7; 19:5-6; etc.). The
liberation which God will bring about in the messianic times is also
described as redemption (cf. Is 35:9) and implies, above all,
liberation from sin: "he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities"
(Ps. 130:8). The same idea occurs in this verse: Jesus "gave himself"
in sacrifice to make expiation for our sins, to set us free from sin
and restore to us our lost dignity. "Unceasingly contemplating the
whole of Christ's mystery, the Church knows with all the certainty
of faith that the Redemption that took place through the Cross has
definitively restored his dignity to man and given back meaning to
his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent
because of sin" (John Paul II, "Redemptor Hominis", 10).

"At the proper time": God's plan for man's salvation is eternal, it did
not start at a particular time; however, it unfolds gradually in God's
good time (see the note on Eph 1:10).

8. The raising of the hands at prayer is a custom found among both
Jews (cf. Ex 9:29; Is 1:15; etc.) and pagans; it was also adopted by
the early Christians, as can be seen from murals in the Roman
catacombs.

External stances adopted during prayer should reflect one's inner
attitude: "we extend our arms", Tertullian explains, "in imitation of
the Lord on the Cross; and praying we confess Christ" ("De Oratione",
14). St Thomas Aquinas, referring to liturgical rites, comments that
"what we do externally when we pray helps to move us internally.
Genuflections and other gestures of that type are not pleasing to God
in themselves; they please him because they are signs of respect
whereby man humbles himself interiorly; similarly, the raising of the
hands signifies the lifting of the heart" ("Commentary on 1 Tim, ad
loc.").

Everyone should pray regularly (vv. 1-2) and be sure to have the right
dispositions; men need to make sure that they do not approach prayer
with their thoughts full of earthly ambition; and women need to be sure
vanity does not creep in. "Holy hands" refers to the need to pray with
a calm conscience, free from anger and spite. We already have our
Lord's teaching that "if you are offering your gift at the altar, and
there remember that your brother has something against you, leave
your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Mt 5:23-24).

(II) 1st Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33

Abuses
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[17] But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you
come together it is not for the better but for the worse. [18] For, in the first place,
when you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and
I partly believe it, [19] for there must be factions among you in order that those
who are genuine among you may be recognized. [20] When you meet together,
it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. [21] For in eating, each one goes ahead
with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. [22] What! Do you
not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and
humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend
you in this? No, I will not.

The Institution of the Eucharist and its Worthy Reception
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[23] For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus
on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks,
he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance
of me." [25] In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the
new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of
me." [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
Lord's death until he comes.

[33] So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

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Commentary:

17-22. Here St Paul discusses a much more serious abuse. These Christians
used to combine the celebration of the Eucharist with a meal in common. In
principle, this meal was intended to be a sign of charity and solidarity among
those present: hence the fact that it was sometimes called an agape or frater-
nal banquet; these meals also provided an opportunity to help those most in
need. However, certain abuses had arisen: instead of a meal in which all sha-
red equally, they had been eating in groups, each group eating the food they
had brought, which meant that some ate and drank too much, while others did
not have enough or had nothing at all. The net effect was that this meal -- giving
rise as it did to discontent and discord--was in sharp contrast with the Eucharist
the source of charity and unity. Very early on in the Church the Eucharist was
separated from these meals, which then became simple fraternal meals with no
liturgical significance.

23-26. These verses clearly bear witness to the early Christians' faith in the eu-
charistic mystery. St Paul is writing around the year 57--only twenty-seven years
since the institution of the Eucharist--, reminding the Corinthians of what they
had been taught some years earlier ("c." the year 51). The words "received" and
"delivered" are technical terms used to indicate that a teaching is part of aposto-
lic Tradition; cf. also 1 Cor 15:3. These two passages highlight the importance
of that apostolic Tradition. The words "I received from the Lord" are a technical
expression which means "I received through that Tradition which goes back to
the Lord himself."

There are three other New Testament accounts of the institution of the Eucharist
(Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:16-20). This account, which is most like St
Luke's, is the earliest of the four.

The text contains the fundamental elements of Christian faith in the mystery of
the Eucharist: 1) the institution of this sacrament by Jesus Christ and his real
presence in it; 2) the institution of the Christian priesthood; 3) the Eucharist is
the sacrifice of the New Testament (cf. notes on Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25;
Lk 22: 16-20; 1 Cor 10: 14-22).

"Do this in remembrance of me": in instituting the Eucharist, our Lord charged
that it be re-enacted until the end of time (cf. Lk 22:19), thereby instituting the
priesthood. The Council of Trent teaches that Jesus Christ our Lord, at the Last
Supper, "offered his body and blood under the species of bread and wine to God
the Father and he gave his body and blood under the same species to the apos-
tles to receive, making them priests of the New Testament at that time. [...] He
ordered the apostles and their successors in the priesthood to offer this sacra-
ment when he said, "Do this in remembrance of me", as the Catholic Church
has always understood and taught" ("De SS. Missae Sacrificio", chap. 1; cf.
can. 2). And so, Pope John Paul II teaches, the Eucharist is "the principal and
central reason-of-being of the sacrament of the priesthood, which effectively
came into being at the moment of the institution of the Eucharist, and together
with it" ("Letter to All Bishops", 24 February 1980).

The word "remembrance" is charged with the meaning of a Hebrew word which
was used to convey the essence of the feast of the Passover -- commemoration
of the exodus from Egypt. For the Israelites the passover rite not only reminded
them of a bygone event: they were conscious of making that event present, re-
viving it, in order to participate in it, in some way, generation after generation (cf.
Ex 12:26-27; Deut 6:20-25). So, when our Lord commands his Apostles to "do
this in remembrance of me", it is not a matter of merely recalling his supper but
of renewing his own passover sacrifice of Calvary, which already, at the Last
Supper, was present in an anticipated way.

33-34. These precise instructions show how desirous the Apostle is to surround
the mystery of the Eucharist with due adoration, respect and reverence, which
are a logical consequence of the sublimity of this sacrament. The Church is tire-
less in making this point: "when celebrating the Sacrament of the body and blood
of the Lord, the full magnitude of the divine mystery must be respected, as must
the full meaning of this sacramental sign in which Christ is really present and is
received, the soul is filled with grace and the pledge of future glory is given (cf.
Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47).

"This is the source of the duty to carry out rigorously the liturgical rules and every-
thing that is a manifestation of community worship offered to God himself, all the
more so because in this sacramental sign he entrusts himself to us with limitless
trust, as if not taking into consideration our human weakness, our unworthiness,
the force of habit, or even the possibility of insult. Every member of the Church,
especially bishops and priests, must be vigilant in seeing that this Sacrament of
love shall be at the center of the life of the people of God, so that through all the
manifestations of worship due to it Christ shall be given back 'love for love' and
truly become 'the life of our souls' (cf. Jn 6:51-57; 14:6; Gal 2:20)" (John Paul II,
"Redemptor Hominis", 20).


Gospel Reading: Luke 7:1-10

The Centurion's Faith
-------------------------------
[1] After He (Jesus) had ended all His sayings in the hearing of the
people He entered Capernaum. [2] Now a centurion had a slave who
was dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. [3] When he
heard of Jesus, he sent to Him elders of the Jews, asking Him to come
and heal his slave. [4] And when they came to Jesus, they besought
Him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have You do this for him, [5]
for he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue." [6] And Jesus
went with them. When He was not far from the house, the centurion
sent friends to Him, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I
am not worthy to have You come under my roof; [7] therefore I did not
presume to come to You. But say the word, and let my servant be
healed. [8] For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under
me: and I say to one, `Go,' and he goes; and to another, `Come,' and
he comes; and to my slave, `Do this,' and he does it." [9] When Jesus
heard this He marvelled at him, and turned and said to the multitude
that followed Him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."
[10] And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they
found the slave well.

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Commentary:

1-10. "They besought Him earnestly" (verse 4). Here is an example of
the effectiveness of the prayer of petition, which induces Almighty God
to work a miracle. In this connection St. Bernard explains what we
should ask God for: "As I see it, the petitions of the heart consists in
three things [...]. The first two have to do with the present, that is, 
with
things for the body and for the soul; the third is the blessedness of eter-
nal life. Do not be surprised that He says that we should ask God for
things for the body: all things come from Him, physical as well as spiri-
tual things [...]. However, we should pray more often and more fervently
for things our souls need, that is, for God's grace and for virtues" ("Fifth
Lenten Sermon", 8f). To obtain His grace--of whatever kind--God Himself
expects us to ask Him assiduously, confidently, humbly and persistently.

What stands out here is the centurion's humility: he did not belong to
the chosen people, he was a pagan; but he makes his request through
friends, with deep humility. Humility is the route to faith, whether to
receive faith for the first time or to revive it. Speaking of his own 
conver-
sion experience, St. Augustine says that because he was not humble,
he could not understand how Jesus, who was such a humble person,
could be God, nor how God could teach anyone by lowering Himself to
the point of taking on our human condition. This was precisely why the
Word, eternal Truth, became man--to demolish our pride, to encourage
our love, to subdue all things and thereby be able to raise us up (cf.
"Confessions", VII, 18, 24).

6-7. Such is the faith and humility of the centurion that the Church, in
its eucharistic liturgy, gives us his very words to express our own senti-
ments just before receiving Holy Communion; we too should strive to
have this interior disposition when Jesus enters our roof, our soul.
　

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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].