Saturday

9th Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: Tobit 12:1, 5-15, 20

The Archangel Raphael reveals himself
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[1] Tobit then called his son Tobias and said to him, "My son, see to the wages
of the man who went with you; and he must also be given more.” [2] He replied,
"Father it would do me no harm to give him half of what I have brought back. [3]
For he has led me back to you safely, he cured my wife, he obtained the money
for me, and he also healed you.” [4] The old man said, "He deserves it.” [5] So 
he called the angel and said to him, "Take half of all that you two have brought
back.”

[6] Then the angel called the two of them privately and said to them: "Praise God
and give thanks to him; exalt him and give thanks to him in the presence of all the
living for what he has done for you. It is good to praise God and to exalt his name,
worthily declaring the works of God. Do not be slow to give him thanks. [7] It is
good to guard the secret of a king, but gloriously to reveal the works of God. Do
good, and evil will not overtake you. [8] Prayer is good when accompanied by
fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than
much with wrongdoing. It is better to give alms than to treasure up gold. [9] For
almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purse away every sin. Those who per-
form deeds of charity and of righteousness will have fullness of life; [10] but those
who commit sin are the enemies of their own lives.

[11] I will not conceal anything from you. I have said, 'It is good to guard the se-
cret of a king, but gloriously to reveal the works of God.’ [12] And so, when you
and your daughter-in-law Sarah prayed, I brought a reminder of your prayer be-
fore the Holy One; and when you buried the dead, I was likewise present with
you. [13] When you did not hesitate to rise and leave your dinner in order to go
and lay out the dead, your good deed was not hidden from your daughter-in-law
Sarah. [15] I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers
of the saints and enter into the presence of the glory of the Holy One.”

[16] They were both alarmed; and they fell upon their faces, for they were afraid.
[17] But he said to them, "Do not be afraid; you will be safe. But praise God for
ever. [18] For I did not come as a favour on my part, but by the will of our God.
Therefore praise him for ever. [19] All these days I merely appeared to you and
did not eat or drink, but you were seeing a vision. [20] And now give thanks to
God, for I am ascending to him who sent me. Write in a book everything that
has happened.”

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Commentary: 

12:1-22. Giving the angels half the money brought from Media shows Tobit’s
great generosity and Tobias’ appreciation of the angel’s good offices. The young
man attributes all the various favours to the angel (v. 3). But now the focus turns
to what Raphael has to say – angelic words and therefore of special significance.
Commenting on this book, St. Ambrose highlights the virtues that make Tobit a
model of righteousness and good works: "But that holy man Tobit [. . .] under-
stood that the servant too must be paid a just wage. He offered half of what he
owned, and it is no coincidence that the servant he hired was an angel. As for
you, if you deny a just man his due reward, or worse still a weak man – Woe to 
him who scandalizes one of these, the least of my little ones – how do you know
that you are not defrauding an angel? From the moment that Christ became a 
child, it became impossible for us to doubt that our servant could be an angel.
Give your servant his due, do not deprive him of the reward for his labour, 
because you yourself are a servant of Christ, who has brought you into his vine-
yard and has prepared a place in heaven for you” (St. Ambrose, De Tobia, 24,
91-92).

Tobit and his son feel a reverential fear on finding themselves in the presence of
an angel, but Raphael puts them at ease, telling them not to be afraid and show-
ing them that it has all been by the will of God: they should praise God, and put
the whole story down in writing (vv. 17-21). Tobit and Tobias do confess the
wonderful works of God (v. 22) and the sacred author has done the writing.

Many psalms in the Bible, particularly those of thanksgiving, bear witness to what
God has done in the personal life of the psalmist, but the most splendid instance
of all is to be found in the Magnificat, the Virgin Mary’s prayer of praise after the
Annunciation (cf. Lk 1:46-55).
　

(II) 1st Reading: 2 Timothy 4:1-8

Dedication to Preaching
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[1] I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the
living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [2] preach the word,
be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfai-
ling in patience and in teaching. [3] For the time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for them-
selves teachers to suit their own liking, [4] and will turn away from listening to
the truth and wander into myths. [5] As for you, always be steady, endure suf-
fering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

The Crown of Righteousness
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[6] For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure
has come. [7] I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept
the faith. [8] Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me
but also to all who have loved his appearing.

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Commentary:

1. The last chapter of the letter, summing up its main themes, is in fact St Paul's
last will and testament and has the features of that type of document: it begins in
a formal manner (vv. 1-5), protests the sincerity of his dedicated life (vv. 6-8) and
concludes with some very tender, personal messages (vv. 9-22).

The opening is couched in a solemn form (also found in 1 Tim 5:21) similar to
a Greco-Roman will, laying on the heirs an obligation to carry out the testator's
wishes: "I charge you"; a series of imperatives follows. To underline the impor-
tance of what the testator is requesting, God the Father and Jesus Christ are
invoked as witnesses, guarantors of the commitments which will devolve on the
heirs. By swearing this document the testator is performing an act of the virtue
of religion, because he is acknowledging God as Supreme Judge, to whom we
must render an account of our actions.

"Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead": a graphic, catechetical
expression (cf. Acts 10:42; 1 Pet 4:5), confessing belief in the truth that all men
without exception will undergo judgment by Jesus Christ, from whose decision
there is no appeal. This has become part of the Creed; in a solemn profession
of faith, the "Creed of the People of God", Pope Paul VI elaborated on this article
of faith as we have seen in the commentary on 2 Thessalonians 1:5 above.

2. "Preach the word": that is, the message of the Gospel, which includes all the
truths to be believed, the commandments to be kept and the sacraments and
other supernatural resources to be availed of. In the life of the Church the ministry
of the word has special importance; it is the channel God has established where-
by man can partake of the Gospel; priests have a special duty to preach the word:
"The people of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living
God, which is quite rightly sought from the mouth of priests. For since nobody
can be saved who has not first believed, it is the first task of priests as co-workers
of the bishops to preach the Gospel of God to all men. In this way they carry out
the Lord's command, 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole
creation' (Mk 16:15) and thus set up and increase the people of God" (Vatican II,
"Presbyterorum Ordinis", 4).

"In season and out of season", that is, even in adverse circumstances (cf. v. 3),
or when hearers are disinclined to accept the Christian message. Timothy and,
like him, all other sacred ministers, ought to behave towards the faithful in accor-
dance with the demands of Christian life and doctrine. "What do men want, what
do they expect of the priest, the minister of Christ, the living sign of the presence
of the Good Shepherd? We would venture to say that, although they may not ex-
plicitly say so, they need, want and hope for a priest-priest, a priest through and
through, a man who gives his life for them, by opening to them the horizons of the
soul; a man who unceasingly exercises his ministry whose heart is capable of
understanding, and a man who gives simply and joyfully, in season and even out
of season, what he alone can give--the richness of grace, of divine intimacy which,
through him, God wishes to distribute among men" (A. del Portillo, "On Priest-
hood", p. 66).

3-5. With sadness in his heart and with no little irony St Paul unmasks those
who prefer smooth talk to the truth. Earlier Cicero criticized certain Greeks who
by skillful use of words managed to delude their listeners even though they had
really nothing to say or were misleading them. However where Christian doctrine
is at stake, the danger that can be done to soul is much more grave: "Do not be
afraid, or surprised, to see the resistance of some people's minds. There will al-
ways be stupid people who deck out the armor of their ignorance with a display
of culture" (St. J. Escriva, "Furrow", 934).

As an antidote to empty talk, the Apostle recommends solid teaching, cons-
tancy in the face of difficulty, and commitment to the ministry. St John Chrysos-
tom called for fidelity to the Gospel in these words: "What you should fear is not
that people might malign you but that you should be regarded as tainted with the
same hypocrisy as your detractors. For if that were the case you would become
tasteless and people would trample you underfoot. But if you offer the salt in all
sobriety and are criticized on that account, do not be dismayed; for that is what
salt is for--to irritate and disturb the corrupt. People will continue to speak evil of
you, but they will do you no harm; they will only prove your reliability" ("Hom. on
St Matthew", 15, 7).

6-8. Conscious of his closeness to death, St Paul writes in poetic strain about
his life in the service of the Gospel, about the meaning of death and his hope of
heaven. The imagery he uses shows how he interprets his experience in the light
of faith. "On the point of being sacrificed": literally "poured out in sacrifice": death
is an offering to God, like the libations of oil poured on the altar of sacrifices.
Death is the beginning of a journey: "the point of my departure has come", the
anchor is being weighed, the sails unfurled.

The Christian life is like magnificent Games taking place in the presence of
God, who acts as the judge. In Greece the Games had close connections with
religious worship; St Paul presents the Christian life as a type of spiritual sport:
"races" indicates the continuous effort to achieve perfection (cf. Phil 3:14); trai-
ning for athletics indicates the practice of self-denial (cf. 1 Cor 9:26-27); fighting
stands for the effort required to resist sin even if that means death, as can hap-
pen in the event of persecution (cf. Heb 12:4). It is well worthwhile taking part in
this competition, because, as St John Chrysostom points out, "the crown which
it bestows never withers. It is not made of laurel leaves, it is not a man who
places it on our head, it has not been won in the presence of a crowd made up
of men, but in a stadium full of angels. In earthly competitions a man fights and
strives for days and the only reward he receives is a crown which withers in a
matter of hours [...]. That does not happen here: the crown he is given is a glory
and honor whose brilliance lasts forever ("Hom. on 2 Tim, ad loc".).

All Christians who "have loved his appearing", that is, who stay true to Christ,
share St Paul's expectation of eternal life. "We who know about the eternal joys
of the heavenly fatherland should hasten to reach it by the more direct route" (St
Gregory the Great, "In Evangelia Homiliae", 16).


Gospel Reading: Mark 12:38-44

Jesus Censures the Scribes
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[38] And in His (Jesus') teaching He said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to
go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places [39] and the
best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, [40] who devour
widow's houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the
greater condemnation."

The Widow's Mite
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[41] And He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting
money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. [42] And a poor
widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny. [43] And He
called His disciples to Him, and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor wi-
dow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. [44] For
they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in
everything she had, her whole living."

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Commentary:

38-40. Our Lord reproves disordered desire for human honors: "We should notice
that salutations in the marketplace are not forbidden, nor people taking the best
seats if that befits their position; rather, the faithful are warned to avoid, as they
would evil men, those who set too much store by such honors" (St. Bede, "In
Marci Evangelium Expositio, in loc."). See also notes on Matthew 23:2-3, 5, 11
and 14.

41-44. Our Lord uses this little event to teach us the importance of things which
apparently are insignificant. He puts it somewhat paradoxically; the poor widow
has contributed more than all the rich. In God's sight the value of such an action
lies more in upright intention and generosity of spirit than in the quantity one
gives. "Didn't you see the light in Jesus' eyes as the poor widow left her little
alms in the temple? Give Him what you can: the merit is not in whether it is big
or small, but in the intention with which you give it" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way",
829).

By the same token, our actions are pleasing to God even if they are not as perfect
as we would like. St. Francis de Sales comments: "Now as among the treasures
of the temple, the poor widow's mite was much esteemed, so the least little good
works, even though performed somewhat coldly and not according to the whole
extent of the charity which is in us, are agreeable to God, and esteemed by Him;
so that though of themselves they cannot cause and increase in the existing love
[...] yet Divine Providence, counting on them and, out of His goodness, valuing
them, forthwith rewards them with increase in charity for the present, and assigns
to them a greater Heavenly glory for the future" (St. Francis de Sales, "Treatise
on the Love of God", Book 3, Chapter 2).
　

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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].