Saturday

27th Week of Ordinary Time
　

(I) 1st Reading: RSV Joel 3:12-21 (NAB Joel 4:12-21)

A call to battle
---------------------
[12] Let the nations bestir themselves,
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
all the nations round about.

[13] Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the wine press is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great.

The day of the Lord
---------------------------
[14] Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
[15] The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.

[16] And the Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.

[17] "So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
who dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy
and strangers shall never again pass through it.

The future glory of Israel
-----------------------------------
[18] "And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the stream beds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the valley of Shittim.

[19] "Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
[20] But Judah shall be inhabited for ever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
[21] I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,
for the Lord dwells in Zion." 

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary: 

3:14-17. The preceding verses were really a preparation for this final oracle which
describes the Judgment and the victory of the Lord. "The valley of decision" (v.
14) is the same valley as that of Jehoshapat. The judgment that takes place on 
the day of the Lord is compared to a harvesting; the Lord will save his faithful,
and destroy his enemies. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1040 uses this
passage, along with Daniel 7:10 and Malachi 3:19, in its teaching about the Last 
Judgment (cf. the note on Jer 51:56) in which God the Father "through his Son
Jesus Christ […] will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the
ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of sal-
vation, and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led every-
thing toward its final end".

The core of the oracle is vv. 16-17 when Joel sees the Lord presiding over Jeru-
salem and protecting his people, whose refuge and strength he is (cf. Ps 46).
The picture of the Lord dwelling in his temple in Jerusalem recurs throughout bi-
blical tradition and is probably in the background of what the fourth Gospel says
about the Word, who was God and "dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). Similarly, the re-
ference in v. 17 which makes Jerusalem a holy place through which strangers
must not pass (cf. also Is 52:1; Jer 31:40; Zech 9:8) later gave rise to there
being a "dividing wall" (cf. Eph 2:14) that prevented outsiders from entering the
temple proper, under pain of death. This is the wall that St Paul sees as being
symbolically broken down by Christ"s sacrifice, which removed any distinction
between Jew and Gentile "that he might create in himself one new man in place
of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body
through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end" (Eph 2:16). "The pas-
sion of the Saviour made peace between the circumcised and the uncircumcised,
so that the Jew could no longer condemn the Gentile, basing his righteousness
on the power of circumcision, nor could the Gentile denounce the Jew, asserting
his superiority by the fact that he is uncircumcised, that is, a pagan. Both are
re-ade, and live out the faith of the one true God in Christ" (Ambrosiaster, Ad
Ephesios, 2, 14).

3:18-21. The book ends with a vision of the eschatological Jerusalem in the new
golden age. Three themes typical of Joel are raised in these verses, Judah"s af-
flictions (the locust plague, and the hunger and devastation that it brought) and
here offset by an idyllic, Eden-like picture where Judah is a garden full of good
things, of sweet wine and milk (v. 18). The same imagery and themes are to be
found in Isaiah 30:25; Ezekiel 47:1-12; and Zechariah 14:8; the theme of living
water will be taken up later by St John (cf. Jn 4:10-15; Rev 22:1). Judah will be
most fertile, but God"s vengeance will be wreaked on Egypt and Edom (symbo-
lizing Israel"s enemies); they will now be the ones to suffer devastation.

Finally (vv. 20-21) comes the promise that never again will there be exile (Judah
and Jerusalem will always be inhabited), and "the Lord will dwell in Zion" (cf. v.
21) – which is their dearest wish. The entire book of Joel has been working up to
this outcome. This passage is used most notably by St John in his vision of the
messianic Jerusalem coming down from heaven ("He carried me away to a great,
high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem coming down out of hea-
ven, having the glory of God": Rev 21:10-11); and it is an image of the heartfelt
hope of all mankind.


(II) 1st Reading: Galatians 3:22-29

The Law and the Promise (Continuation)
----------------------------------------------------------
[22] But the scripture consigned all things to sin, that what was promised to faith
in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

[23] Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint
until faith should be revealed. [24] So that the law was our custodian until Christ
came, that we might be justified by faith. [25] But now that faith has come, we
are no longer under a custodian; [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God,
through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there
is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are
Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

21-25. "But the scripture consigned all things to sin": it is not easy to understand
this phrase but its meaning becomes clearer in the context of the whole passage:
God reveals that all men are under the power of sin, Jews as well as Gentiles,
despite the Jews having received the Law (cf. Rom 3:10-18). The reason this is
so is, again, the inability of the Law to confer justification; the Law had no power
to free us from the devil, sin or death. But now, in the fullness of time, God's pur-
pose in giving the Law is made manifest--namely, to protect and guide mankind
during its minority, rather as a governess or tutor looks after a child until he has
grown up. The tutor keeps an eye on the child: the child cannot do whatever he
likes but must be guided by his teacher. And so it is with mankind: it was a mi-
nor, of whom the Law was the custodian, so to speak; but when the fullness of
time came God sent his son Jesus Christ, who set us free from sin, from death
and from the Law itself, our tutor. That is why the Apostle says, "Now that faith
has come, we are no longer under a custodian." This faith is the new life which
has taken over from the harsh discipline of the Law.

To us, centuries later, these arguments and teachings of St Paul's may seem
irrelevant. We need to put ourselves in the position of a Jew of his time--a zea-
lous upholder of the Law, and yet unable to cope with the sheer weight of all its
precepts and accretions--who, now that he has converted to faith in Christ, has
a real sense of liberation: he has been freed from all his old shackles and is now
eager to show his former Jewish brothers that they too can attain the same free-
dom in Christ Jesus.

24. The Law, like the whole of the Old Testament, had this function in relation to
the New--to prepare the way for its promulgation. Everything in the books of the
Old Testament refers directly or indirectly to our Lord Jesus Christ and his work
of redemption: the two Testaments are intimately connected, as Tradition tea-
ches and the Second Vatican Council reminds us: "God, the inspirer and author
of the books of both Testaments, in his wisdom has so brought it about that the
New should be hidden in the Old and that the Old should be made manifest in
the New. For, although Christ founded the New Covenant in his blood (cf. Lk
22:20; 1 Cor 11:25), still the books of the Old Testament, all of them caught up
into the Gospel message, attain and show forth their full meaning in the New
Testament (cf. Mt 5:17, Lk 24:27; Rom 16:25-26; 2 Cor 3:14-16) and, in their
turn, shed light on it and explain it" ("Dei Verbum", 16).

27. St John of Avila, commenting on this passage, says, "The Holy Spirit was
not content with saying that we are bathed and anointed: here he says that we
are clothed, and the clothing we are given is not just something beautiful and
costly: it is Jesus Christ himself, who is the sum total of all beauty, all value,
all richness, etc. What he means is that the beauty of Jesus Christ, his justice,
his grace, his riches, his splendor, shine out from us with the splendor of the
sun and is reflected as in the purest of mirrors" ("Lecciones Sobre Gal, ad loc.").

St Paul uses this metaphor of our being decked out in Christ in many other pas-
sages (cf. Rom 13:14; 1 Cor 15:43; Eph 4:24; 6:11; Col 3:10; etc.) to describe
the intimate union between the baptized person and Christ, a union so intense
that the Christian can be said to be "another Christ".

28. In the order of nature, it may be said, all men are radically equal: as descen-
dants of Adam, we are born in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27).
The different functions which people have in the life of society do not alter this
basic, natural equality. From this point of view there is no real difference, nor
should there be, between one person and another, no difference even between
man and woman: both are made in the image and likeness of God.

In the order of grace, which the Redemption inaugurates, this essential, original
equality was restored by Christ, who became man and died on the Cross to
save all. John Paul II points out that this true meaning of the dignity of man is
enhanced by the Redemption: "In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes
newly 'expressed' and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! 'There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus' (Gal 3:28). The man who wishes to
understand himself thoroughly--and not just in accordance with immediate, par-
tial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being--
must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with
his life and death, draw near to Christ.He must, so to speak, enter into him with
all his own self, he must 'appropriate' and assimilate the whole of the reality of
the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself" ("Redemptor Hominis",
10)

From this radical equality of all men is derived that universal fraternity which
should govern human relations: "Our Lord has come to bring peace, good news
and life to all. Not only to the rich, nor only to the poor. Not only to the wise, nor
only to the simple. To everyone. To the brethren, for brothers we are, children of
the same Father, God. So there is only one race, the race of the children of God.
There is only one color, the color of the children of God. And there is only one
language, the language which speaks to the heart and to the mind, without the
noise of words, making us know God and love one another" (St. J. Escriva,
"Christ Is Passing By", 106).


Gospel Reading: Luke 11:27-28

Responding to the Word of God
----------------------------------------------
[27] As He (Jesus) said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to
Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that You sucked!"
[28] But He said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep
it!"

********************************************************************************************* 
Commentary:

27-28. These words proclaim and praise the Blessed Virgin's basic attitude of
soul. As the Second Vatican Council explains: "In the course of her Son's prea-
ching she [Mary] received the words whereby, in extolling a Kingdom beyond the
concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and
kept the word of God (cf. Mark 3:35; Luke 11:27-28) as she was faithfully doing
(cf. Luke 2:19_51)" ("Lumen Gentium", 58). Therefore, by replying in this way
Jesus is not rejecting the warm praise this good lady renders His Mother; He ac-
cepts it and goes further, explaining that Mary is blessed particularly because
she has been good and faithful in putting the word of God into practice. "It was a
complement to His Mother on her "fiat", 'be it done' (Luke 1:38). She lived it sin-
cerely, unstintingly, fulfilling its every consequence, but never amid fanfare, rather
in the hidden and silent sacrifice of each day" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing
By", 177). See the note on Luke 1:34-38.

[Note on Luke 1:34-38 states:

34-38. Commenting on this passage John Paul II said: "'Virgo fidelis', the faithful
irgin. What does this faithfulness of Mary mean? What are the dimensions of
this faithfulness? The first dimension is called search. Mary was faithful first of
all when she began, lovingly, to seek the deep sense of God's plan in her and for
the world. 'Quomodo fiet?' How shall this be?, she asked the Angel of the An-
nunciation [...]."

"The second dimension of faithfulness is called reception, acceptance. The 'quo-
modo fiet?' is changed, on Mary's lips, to a 'fiat': Let it be done, I am ready, I ac-
cept. This is the crucial moment of faithfulness, the moment in which man per-
ceives that he will never completely understand the 'how': that there are in God's
plan more areas of mystery than of clarity; that is, however he may try, he will
never succeed in understanding it completely [...]."

"The third dimension of faithfulness is consistency to live in accordance with what
one believes; to adapt one's own life to the object of one's adherence. To accept
misunderstanding, persecutions, rather than a break between what one practises
and what one believes: this is consistency [...]."

"But all faithfulness must pass the most exacting test, that of duration. Therefore,
the fourth dimension of faithfulness is constancy. It is easy to be consistent for
a day or two. It isdifficult and important to be consistent for one's whole life. It is
easy to be consistent in the hour of enthusiasm, it is difficult to be so in the hour
of tribulation. And only a consistency that laststhroughout the whole life can be
called faithfulness. Mary's 'fiat' in the Annunciation finds its fullness in the silent
'fiat' that she repeats at the foot of the Cross" ("Homily in Mexico City Cathedral",
26 January 1979).]
　

*********************************************************************************************
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].