Tuesday

31st Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: Romans 12:5-16ab

Solidarity in the Mystical Body (Continuation)
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[5] So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members
one of another. [6] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to
us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7] if service, in
our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; [8] he who exhorts, in his
exhortation; he who contributes, in his liberality; he who gives aid, with
zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Charity Towards All
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[9] Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; [10]
love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing
honor. [11] Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.
[12] Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
[13] Contribute to the needs of the saints, practise hospitality. [14] Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. [15] Rejoice with
those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. [16] Live in harmony with
one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be
conceited.

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Commentary:

4-5. The variety which is to be found in every well-organized social structure
is also, by God's will, a feature of the Church. This variety reflects the differing
needs of the Christian community, which is not an amorphous grouping of
people, each working separately for personal salvation, but an organized body.
In that body each member has a defined role and functions for the benefit of all,
while at the same time seeking personal spiritual advancement. This variety is,
moreover, consistent with and conducive to the carrying out of God's desire to
sanctify and save men, not one by one, as if they were unconnected to each
other, but rather constituting a people which is established and governed on the
basis of this wonderful variety .This distinction was established by God in order
to build up the Church. Therefore, for example, pastors and people are of mutual
supernatural help to one another (cf. Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 9 and 32).

Each of us should feel called on to invigorate--through personal effort, virtue--the
entire Mystical Body of Christ (cf. "Introduction to the 'Theology' of St Paul", pp.
44-6 above). It is inaccurate, therefore, to make a distinction between "personal
virtues" and "social virtues". "No virtue worthy of its name can foster selfishness.
Every virtue necessarily works to the good both of our own soul and to the good
of those around us [...]. Ties of solidarity should bind us all and, besides, in the
order of grace we are united by the supernatural links of the Communion of
Saints" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 76).

6-8. "Gifts": also called charisms, these are special, transitory, divine graces,
granted not so much for the personal benefit of the recipient as for the general
good of the Church. This term (charism), we might note, was introduced into the
New Testament by St Paul.

9-21. "After speaking about those gifts which are not common to all, the Apostle
now teaches that charity is common to all" (St Thomas, "Commentary on Rom,
ad loc".). True charity takes different forms depending on the needs and capacity
of each person; it always involves seeking good and avoiding evil (v. 9); it has
to be exercised with those who are already Christians (vv. 10-16) and those who
are not (vv. 17-21); indeed, the charity shown to the latter is instrumental in
bringing them closer to the faith. However, it is not always possible to do to
othersall the good we would wish: we have limited resources, more pressing
duties; there are problems of physical distance, etc. Only God, who is infinitely
perfect and almighty, can do good to everyone all the time; this does not mean
that he always gives everyone the same gifts: to some he gives more, to others
less, according to the designs of his Wisdom.

Even bearing in mind our own limitations, our love for others should affect
everything we do, everything we think and say. Obviously, one of the first
consequences of charity is never to judge anyone, or speak badly about anyone,
or scandalize them by what we say or do. Moreover, we should perform positive
acts of this virtue; it would be impossible to give a complete list of the ways of
being charitable but they certainly include, Fray Luis de Granada says, "among
other things, these six--loving, counselling, assisting, suffering, forgiving and
edifying. These are so closely connected to charity that the more one does them
the more charity one has, and the less, less [...]. For, according to this order a
person can check to see what he has and what he does not have as far as the
perfection of that virtue is concerned. For we can say that he who loves is on the
first step; he who loves and counsels, on the second; he who assists, on the third;
he who suffers on the fourth; he who forgives and suffers, on the fifth; and he who
builds on all this with his words and his good life, as is the task of perfect and
apostolic men, on the highest step of all" ("Guide to Sinners", I, II, chap. 16).

12. The love of God makes us joyful, strong and persevering. Therefore "one
accepts tribulation with joy and hope, because one knows that what is promised
in exchange is something much better" (Pseudo-Ambrose, "Comm. in Epist. ad
Rom, ad loc".)

This setting gives us every opportunity to derive supernatural benefit from
suffering, which is quite a normal part of the Christian life: "A whole program for
a good course in the 'subject' of suffering is given to us by the Apostle: "spe
gaudentes"--rejoicing in hope, "in tribulatione patientes"--patient in troubles,
"orationi instantes"-- persevering in prayer" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 209).

Joy in the midst of difficulties is in fact one of the clearest signs that love of God
is influencing everything we do, for, as St Augustine comments, "where one loves,
either one does not feel the difficulty or else one loves the very difficulty [...]. The
tasks of those who love are never laborious" ("De Bono Viduitatis", 21, 26).

13. "For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God
whom he has not seen" (1 Jn 4:20). Similarly, it can be said that Christians, that
is "servants of the Lord", unless they serve their brethren whom they see before
them, cannot serve God either. Serving God, in other words, ultimately means
alleviating "the needs of the saints " and offering hospitality to strangers, after
the example of the patriarchs Abraham and Lot (Gen 18:2-5; 19:2-3; cf. Heb 13:2).


(II) 1st Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

Hymn in Praise of Christ's Self-Emptying
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[5] Have this mind among yourselves, [that] which was in Christ Jesus, [6] who,
though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, [7] but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the
likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form He humbled Himself and
became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has
highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
[10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth
and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
\the glory of God the Father.

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Commentary:

5. The Apostle's recommendation, "'Have this mind among yourselves, which
was in Christ Jesus, requires all Christians, so far as human power allows, to
reproduce in themselves the sentiments that Christ had when He was offering
Himself in sacrifice--sentiments of humility, of adoration, praise, and thanks-
giving to the divine majesty. It requires them also to become victims, as it were;
cultivating a spirit of self-denial according to the precepts of the Gospel, willingly
doing works of penance, detesting and expiating their sins. It requires us all, in
a word, to die mystically with Christ on the Cross, so that we may say with the
same Apostle: 'I have been crucified with Christ' (Galatians 2:19)" ([Pope] Pius
XII, "Mediator Dei", 22).

6-11. In what he says about Jesus Christ, the Apostle is not simply proposing
Him as a model for us to follow. Possibly transcribing an early liturgical hymn
(and) adding some touches of his own, he is--under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit--giving a very profound exposition of the nature of Christ and using the
most sublime truths of faith to show the way Christian virtues should be prac-
ticed.

This is one of the earliest New Testament texts to reveal the divinity of Christ.
The epistle was written around the year 62 (or perhaps before that, around 55)
and if we remember that the hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 may well have been
in use prior to that date, the passage clearly bears witness to the fact that
Christians were proclaiming, even in those very early years, that Jesus, born
in Bethlehem, crucified, died and buried, and risen from the dead, was truly
both God and man.

The hymn can be divided into three parts. The first (verses 6 and the beginning
of 7) refers to Christ's humbling Himself by becoming man. The second (the end
of verse 7 and verse 8) is the center of the whole passage and proclaims the ex-
treme to which His humility brought Him: as man He obediently accepted death
on the cross. The third part (verses 9-11) describes His exaltation in glory.
Throughout St. Paul is conscious of Jesus' divinity: He exists from all eternity.
But he centers his attention on His death on the cross as the supreme example
of humility. Christ's humiliation lay not in His becoming a man like us and cloa-
king the glory of His divinity in His sacred humanity: it also brought Him to lead
a life of sacrifice and suffering which reached its climax on the cross, where He
was stripped of everything He had, like a slave. However, now that He has
fulfilled His mission, He is made manifest again, clothed in all the glory that
befits His divine nature and which His human nature has merited.

The man-God, Jesus Christ, makes the cross the climax of His earthly life;
through it He enters into His glory as Lord and Messiah. The Crucifixion puts
the whole universe on the way to salvation.

Jesus Christ gives us a wonderful example of humility and obedience. "We
should learn from Jesus' attitude in these trials," Monsignor Escriva reminds
us. "During His life on earth He did not even want the glory that belonged to
Him. Though He had the right to be treated as God, He took the form of a ser-
vant, a slave (cf. Philippians 2:6-7). And so the Christian knows that all glory
is due God and that he must not use the sublimity and greatness of the Gos-
pel to further his own interests or human ambitions.

"We should learn from Jesus. His attitude in rejecting all human glory is in per-
fect balance with the greatness of His unique mission as the beloved Son of God
who becomes incarnate to save men" ("Christ Is Passing By", 62).

6-7. "Though He was in the form of God" or "subsisting in the form of God":
"form" is the external aspect of something and manifests what it is. When re-
ferring to God, who is invisible, His "form" cannot refer to things visible to the
senses; the "form of God" is a way of referring to Godhead. The first thing that
St. Paul makes clear is that Jesus Christ is God, and was God before the
Incarnation. As the "Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed" professes it, "the only-
begotten Son of God, born of the Father before time began, light from light, true\
God from true God."

"He did not count equality with God as something to be grasped": the Greek
word translated as "equality" does not directly refer to equality of nature but
rather the equality of rights and status. Christ was God and He could not stop
being God; therefore, He had a right to be treated as God and to appear in all
His glory. However, He did not insist on this dignity of His as if it were a treasure
which He possessed and which was legally His: it was not something He clung
to and boasted about. And so He took "the form of a servant". He could have
become man without setting His glory aside--He could have appeared as He did,
momentarily, as the Transfiguration (cf. Matthew 17:1ff); instead He chose to be
like men, in all things but sin (cf. verse 7). By becoming man in the way He did,
He was able, as Isaiah prophesied in the Song of the Servant of Yahweh, to bear
our sorrows and to be stricken (cf. Isaiah 53:4).

"He emptied Himself", He despoiled Himself: this is literally what the Greek verb
means. But Christ did not shed His divine nature; He simply shed its glory, its
aura; if He had not done so it would have shone out through His human nature.
>From all eternity He exists as God and from the moment of the Incarnation He
began to be man. His self-emptying lay not only in the fact that the Godhead
united to Himself (that is, to the person of the Son) something which was cor-
poreal and finite (a human nature), but also in the fact that this nature did not
itself manifest the divine glory, as it "ought" to have done. Christ could not
cease to be God, but He could temporarily renounce the exercise of rights that
belonged to Him as God--which was what He did.

Verses 6-8 bring the Christian's mind the contrast between Jesus and Adam.
The devil tempted Adam, a mere man, to "be like God" (Genesis 3:5). By trying
to indulge this evil desire (pride is a disordered desire for self-advancement) and
by committing the sin of disobeying God (cf. Genesis 3:6), Adam drew down the
gravest misfortunes upon himself and on his whole line (present potentially in him):
this is symbolized in the Genesis passage by his expulsion from Paradise and by
the physical world's rebellion against his lordship (cf. Genesis 3:16-24). Jesus
Christ, on the contrary, who enjoyed divine glory from all eternity, "emptied Him-
self": He chooses the way of humility, the opposite way to Adam's (opposite, too,
to the way previously taken by the devil). Christ's obedience thereby makes up
for the disobedience of the first man; it puts mankind in a position to more than
recover the natural and supernatural gifts with which God endowed human nature
at the Creation. And so, after focusing on the amazing mystery of Christ's humi-
liation or self-emptying ("kenosis" in Greek), this hymn goes on joyously to
celebrate Christ's exaltation after death.

Christ's attitude in becoming man is, then, a wonderful example of humility.
"What is more humble", St. Gregory of Nyssa asks, "than the King of all creation
entering into communion with our poor nature? The King of kings and Lord of
lords clothes Himself with the form of our enslavement; the Judge of the universe
comes to pay tribute to the princes of this world; the Lord of creation is born in a
cave; He who encompasses the world cannot find room in the inn...; the pure and
incorrupt one puts on the filthiness of our nature and experiences all our needs,
experiences even death itself" ("Oratio I In Beatitudinibus").

This self-emptying is an example of God's infinite goodness in taking the initiative
to meet man: "Fill yourselves with wonder and gratitude at such a mystery and
learn from it. All the power, all the majesty, all the beauty, all the infinite harmony
of God, all His great and immeasurable riches. God whole and entire was hidden
for our benefit in the humanity of Christ. The Almighty appears determined to
eclipse His glory for a time, so as to make it easy for His creatures to approach
their Redeemer." ([Blessed] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 111).

8. Jesus Christ became man "for us men and for our salvation", we profess in the
Creed. Everything He did in the course of His life had a salvific value; His death
on the cross represents the climax of His redemptive work for, as St. Gregory of
Nyssa says, "He did not experience death due to the fact of being born; rather,
He took birth upon Himself in order to die" ("Oratio Catechetica Magna", 32).

Our Lord's obedience to the Father's saving plan, involving as it did death on the
cross, gives us the best of all lessons in humility. For, in the words of St. Thomas
Aquinas, "obedience is the sign of true humility" ("Commentary on Phil., ad loc.").
In St. Paul's time death by crucifixion was the most demeaning form of death, for
it was inflicted only on criminals. By becoming obedient "unto death, even death
on a cross", Jesus was being humble in the extreme. He was perfectly within His
rights to manifest Himself in all His divine glory, but He chose instead the route
leading to the most ignominious of deaths.

His obedience, moreover, was not simply a matter of submitting to the Father's
will, for, as St. Paul points out, He made Himself obedient: His obedience was
active; He made the Father's salvific plans His own. He chose voluntarily to give
Himself up to crucifixion in order to redeem mankind. "Debasing oneself when
one is forced to do so is not humility", St. John Chrysostom explains; "humility
is present when one debases oneself without being obliged to do so" ("Hom. on
Phil., ad loc.").

Christ's self-abasement and his obedience unto death reveals His love for us, for
"greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13). His loving initiative merits a loving response on our part: we should
show that we desire to be one with Him, for love "seeks union, identification with
the beloved. United to Christ, we will be drawn to imitate His life of dedication,
His unlimited love and His sacrifice unto death. Christ brings us face to face with
the ultimate choice: either we spend our life in selfish isolation, or we devote our-
selves and all our energies to the service of others" ([Blessed] J. Escriva, "Friends
of God", 236).

9-11. "God highly exalted Him": the Greek compounds the notion of exaltation,
to indicate the immensity of His glorification. Our Lord Himself foretold this when
He said, "He who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11).

Christ's sacred humanity was glorified as a reward for His humiliation. The
Church's Magisterium teaches that Christ's glorification affects his human nature
only, for "in the form of God the Son was equal to the Father, and between the
Begetter and the Only-begotten there was no difference in essence, no difference
in majesty; nor did the Word, through the mystery of incarnation, lose anything
which the Father might later return to Him as a gift" ([Pope] St. Leo the Great,
"Promisisse Me Memini", Chapter 8). Exaltation is public manifestation of the
glory which belongs to Christ's humanity by virtue of its being joined to the divine
person of the Word. This union to the "form of a servant" (cf. verse 7) meant an
immense act of humility on the part of the Son, but it led to the exaltation of the
human nature He took on.

For the Jews the "name that is above every name" is the name of God (Yahweh),
which the Mosaic Law required to be held in particular awe. Also, they regarded
a name given to someone, especially if given by God, as not just a way of refer-
ring to a person but as expressing something that belonged to the very core of
his personality. Therefore, the statement that God "bestowed on Him the name
which is above every name" means that God the Father gave Christ's human
nature the capacity to manifest the glory of divinity which was His by virtue of the
hypostatic union: therefore, it is to be worshipped by the entire universe.

St. Paul describes the glorification of Jesus Christ in terms similar to those used
by the prophet Daniel of the Son of Man: "To Him was given dominion and glory
and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve His Kingdom,
one that shall not be destroyed" (Daniel 7:14). Christ's lordship extends to all
created things. Sacred Scripture usually speaks of "heaven and earth" when
referring to the entire created universe; by mentioning here the underworld it is
emphasizing that nothing escapes His dominion. Jesus Christ can here be
seen as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy about the universal sovereignty of
Yahweh: "To Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:23).
All created things come under His sway, and men are duty-bound to accept the
basic truth of Christian teaching: "Jesus Christ is Lord." The Greek word
"Kyrios" used here by St. Paul is the word used by the Septuagint, the early
Greek version of the Old Testament, to translate the name of God ("Yahweh").
Therefore, this sentence means "Jesus Christ is God."

The Christ proclaimed here as having been raised on high is the man-God who
was born and died for our sake, attaining the glory of His exaltation after under-
going the humiliation of the cross. In this also Christ sets us an example: we
cannot attain the glory of Heaven unless we understand the supernatural value
of difficulties, ill-health and suffering: these are manifestations of Christ's cross
present in our ordinary life. "We have to die to ourselves and be born again to
a new life. Jesus Christ obeyed in this way, even unto death on a cross (Philip-
pians 2:18); that is why God exalted Him. If we obey God's will, the cross will
mean our own resurrection and exaltation. Christ's life will be fulfilled step by
step in our own lives. It will be said of us that we have tried to be good children
of God, who went about doing good in spite of our weakness and personal short-
comings, no matter how many" ([Blessed] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 21).


Gospel Reading: Luke 14:15-24

Parable of the Invited Guests
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[15] When one of those who sat at table with Him (Jesus) heard this, he
said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God!"
[16] But He said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited
many; [17] and at the time for the banquet he sent his ser- vant to say to
those who had been invited, `Come; for all is now ready.' [18] But they all
alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, `I have bought a field,
and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.' [19] And
another said, `I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them;
I pray you, have me excused.' [20] And another said, `I have married a
wife, and therefore I cannot come.' [21] So the servant came and reported
this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, `Go
out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and
maimed and blind and lame.' [22] And the servant said, `Sir, what you
commanded has been done, and still there is room.' [23] And the master
said to the servant, `Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel
people to come in, that my house may be filled. [24] For I tell you, none
of those who were invited shall taste my banquet.'"

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Commentary:

15. In biblical language the expression "to eat bread in the Kingdom of God"
means sharing in eternal beatitude, of which this great banquet is a symbol
(cf. Isaiah 25:6; Matthew 22:1-4).

16-24. If God invites someone to know Him in faith, he should sacrifice any
human interest which gets in the way of replying to God's call, no matter how
lawful and noble it be. The objections we tend to put forward, the duties we
appeal to, are really just excuses. This is why the ungrateful invitees are
blameworthy.

"Compel people to come in": it is not a matter of forcing anyone's freedom --
God does not want us to love Him under duress--but of helping a person to
make right decisions, to shrug off any human respect, to avoid occasions of
sin, to do what he can to discover the truth.... A person is "compelled to
come in" through prayer, the example of a Christian life, friendship--in a word,
apostolate. "If in order to save an earthly life it is praiseworthy to use force to
stop a man from commit- ting suicide, are we not to be allowed use of the
same force -- holy coercion -- to save the Life (with a capital) of many who
are stupidly bent on killing their souls?" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 399).
　

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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].