August 22, 2005
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Psalm: Monday 37
Reading I1 Thes 1:1-5, 8b-10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians
in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you,
remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,
before our God and Father,
knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen.
For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.
In every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything.
For they themselves openly declare about us
what sort of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, Jesus,
who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Responsorial PsalmPs 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b
R. (see 4a)
The Lord takes delight in his people.or:
R.
Alleluia.Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
R.
The Lord takes delight in his people.or:
R.
Alleluia.Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.
R.
The Lord takes delight in his people.or:
R.
Alleluia.Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia!
R.
The Lord takes delight in his people.or:
R.
Alleluia.
GospelMt 23:13-22
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.
You do not enter yourselves,
nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You traverse sea and land to make one convert,
and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna
twice as much as yourselves.
"Woe to you, blind guides, who say,
‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.'
Blind fools, which is greater, the gold,
or the temple that made the gold sacred?
And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.'
You blind ones, which is greater, the gift,
or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it;
one who swears by the temple swears by it
and by him who dwells in it;
one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God
and by him who is seated on it."
From: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10
Greetings
[1] Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Fidelity
[2] We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you
in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of
faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ. [4] For we know brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen
you; [5] for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power
and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of
men we proved to be among you for your sake.
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Fidelity (Continuation)
[8b] But your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not
say anything. [9] For they themselves report concerning us what a
welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to
serve a living and true God, [10] and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to
come.
Commentary:
1. The heading is in keeping with the style of the period: it
identifies the writer and the addressees and contains a greeting. The
names of Silvanus and Timothy, co-workers of St Paul, appears alongside
his own. The heading is affectionate in tone but it is not the kind of
opening typical of a simple family letter. This is an official letter,
which is why two witnesses vouch for its content (in line with legal
requirements: cf. Deut 17:6).
As in certain other letters (cf. 2 Thess, Phil, Philem), St Paul does
not describe himself as an Apostle; the mention of his name is enough
to convey his authority. Silvanus is the same person as Silas whom Acts
describes as "prophet" and one of the "leading men among the brethren"
in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 15 :22, 32); here the Latin transcription of his
name is used. He had worked alongside St Paul in the evangelization of
Thessalonica, so he would have been well known to the believers in that
city (cf. Acts 17:4). Timothy was son of Gentile father and a Jewish
mother (his mother was a Christian convert); Paul gave him instruction
in the faith when he passed through Lystra during his second missionary
journey, and ever since then he had always been a faithful helper of
the Apostle. When St Paul was writing this letter, Timothy had just
arrived in Corinth from Thessalonica with good reports of the spiritual
health of that church (cf. 1 Thess 3:6).
The letter is addressed to "the church of the Thessalonians". The Greek
word "ekklesia", meaning "assembly, gathering of the people", was used
from the apostolic age onwards to describe the Church, the new people
of God. St Thomas Aquinas used this verse for his definition of the
Church as "the assembly of the faithful brought together in God the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith in the Trinity and
in the divinity and humanity of Christ" ("Commentary on 1 Thess, ad
loc."). "All those, who in faith look toward Jesus, the author of
salvation and the principle of unity and peace, God had gathered
together and established as the Church, that it may be for each and
everyone the visible sacrament of this saving unity" (Vatican II, Lumen
Gentium, 9).
"Grace to you and peace": a favorite greeting of St Paul's, expressing
the wish that they will attain the fullness of heavenly good things. See
the note on Rom 1:7).
3. The spiritual life of the Christian is based on the practice of the
theological virtues, for "faith encourages men to do good, charity to
bear pain and effort, and hope to resist patiently" (Severian of
Gabala, "Commentary on 1 Thess, ad loc.").
Faith needs to be reflected in one's conduct, for "faith apart from
works is dead" (Jas 2:26). As St John Chrysostom teaches, "belief and
faith are proved by works--not by simply saying that one believes, but
by real actions, which are kept up, and by a heart burning with love"
("Hom. on I Thess, ad loc.").
The service of others for God's sake is a proof of charity. A person
who practices this virtue always rises to the occasion and does not try
to dodge sacrifice or effort.
Hope is a virtue which "enables one to endure adversity" (St Thomas,
"Commentary on 1 Thess, ad loc."). St Paul encourages us to rejoice in
hope and be patient in tribulation (cf. Rom 12:12), for hope fills the
soul with joy and gives it the strength to bear every difficulty for
love of God.
4. All men are "beloved by God" and, as St Thomas points out, this is
the case "not just in the ordinary sense of having received natural
existence from him, but particularly because he has called them to
eternal good things" ("Commentary on I Thess, ad loc."). Man's last end
is happiness, and happiness cannot be found (other than in a relative
sense) in wealth, honors, health or sensual satisfaction; it can only
be found in knowing and loving God. By raising man to the supernatural
order, God gave him a supernatural goal or end, which consists in
"seeing God himself, triune and one, as he is, clearly" (Council of
Florence, "Laetentur Coeli").
Deprived as he was of sanctifying grace on account of original sin and
his personal sins, man was unable to attain any end exceeding his
natural powers. But God loved us so much that he deigned to enable us
"to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered
us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of
his beloved Son" (Col 1:12-13). Therefore, those who have been given
the preaching of the Gospel and the fruits of Redemption through
Baptism and the other sacraments are the object of a special divine
"choice". This "choice" or election is not the same as "salvation"; it
is an initiative on God's part prior to the attainment of salvation. To
be saved one must second this action of God by responding freely to
grace.
5. St Paul reminds them that what he preached was the "gospel"
foretold by the prophets (cf. Is 40:9; 52:7; 60:6; 61:1) and fulfilled
by the Incarnation of the Word and by his work of salvation. The
Apostle was pressed into service by the Holy Spirit to forward his work
of sanctification. The Thessalonians were not won over by mere human
words but by the "power" of God, who made those words effective. The
term "power" refers not only to miraculous actions but also to the Holy
Spirit moving the souls of those who heard Paul's preaching.
It is true that this activity, like all actions of God outside himself,
is something done by all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity; but in
the language of Scripture and of the Church it is customary "to
attribute to the Father those works of the Divinity in which power
excels; to attribute to the Son, those in which wisdom excels; and to
the Holy Spirit, those in which love excels" (Leo XIII, "Divinum Illud
Munus", 5).
In the early years of the Church the proclamation of the Gospel was
often marked by special graces of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecy,
miracles, or the gift of tongues (cf. Acts 2:8). This profusion of
gifts made it clear that the messianic era had begun (cf. Acts 2:16),
for it meant the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies: "I will pour
out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see
visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I
will pour out my spirit" (Joel 3:1-3).
"In power and in the Holy Spirit": in line with the divine plan of
salvation, the time of the Old Testament, which prepared the way for
the coming of the Messiah, has reached its end, and a new era has
begun, the Christian era, the key feature of which is the activity of
the Spirit of God: "It must be said that the Holy Spirit is the
principal agent of evangelization: it is he who impels each individual
to proclaim the Gospel, and it is he who in the depths of consciences
causes the word of salvation to be accepted and understood" (Paul VI,
"Evangelii Nuntiandi", 75).
7-8. Thessalonica was an important center of trade and a hub of
communications for all Greece. The Christians in the city included a
number of important people and even some women of the aristocracy (cf.
Acts 17:4). The social standing of the converts and the prestige of
the city partly explain the rapid spread of Christian teaching
throughout the region.
What the Apostle says here only goes to show that when the Christian
life is given full rein it spreads far and wide. This should give us
every encouragement "always to act in public in accordance with our
holy faith" ([St] J. Escriva, "Furrow", 46).
9. We can see how happy the Apostle is to learn that the work of
evangelization has borne fruit of conversion to God--which is the whole
purpose of Gospel preaching. "For the Church, evangelization means
bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through
its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new"
(Paul VI, "Evangelii Nuntiandi", 18).
It is moving to see the way good news spread among the early Christian
communities. Obviously anecdotes about the apostolate would go from
church to church; this gave them an occasion to praise God while at the
same time providing encouragement to stay true to Christ and to spread
the Gospel.
10. The Christian message has this feature which differentiates it
from Judaism--hope in Christ and expectation of Christ. Two central
points of Christian teaching emerge from this verse: Jesus Christ is
the Son of God, who rose from the dead, and he will come again to judge
all. St John Chrysostom observes that "in a single text St Paul brings
together a number of different mysteries concerning Jesus Christ--his
glorious resurrection, his victorious ascension, his future coming, the
judgment, the reward promised to the righteous, and the punishment
reserved for evildoers" ("Hom. on 1 Thess, ad loc.").
This verse probably contains a form of words used in oral preaching,
and perhaps a profession of faith belonging to early Christian liturgy.
"To wait for his son (to come) from heaven": that Jesus Christ will
come again is a truth of faith professed in the Creed: "He will come
again in glory to judge the living and the dead." Christ will be the
Judge of all mankind. Everyone will be personally judged by God twice:
"The first judgment takes place when each one of us departs this life;
for then he is instantly placed before the judgment-seat of God, where
all that he has ever done or spoken or thought during life shall be
subjected to the most rigid scrutiny. This is called the particular
judgment. The second occurs when on the same day and in the same place
all men shall stand together before the tribunal of their Judge, that
in the presence and hearing of all human beings of all time each may
know his final doom and sentence [...]. This is called the general
judgment" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 8, 3).
The "wrath to come" is a metaphor referring to the just punishment of
sinners. Our Lord Jesus Christ will exempt from it those who have
consistently tried to live in the state of grace and fellowship with
God. St Teresa of Avila warns that "it will be a great thing at the
hour of death to know that we are going to be judged by him whom we
have loved above all things. We can approach this trial with
confidence. It will not be like going into a strange land but into our
own land, for it is the land that belongs to him whom we love so much
and who loves us" ("Way of Perfection", 70, 3).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
From: Matthew 23:13-22
Jesus Indicts the Scribes and Pharisees
(Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees,) [13] "But woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the Kingdom of
Heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those
who would enter to go in. [15] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte,
and when he becomes proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of
Hell as yourselves.
[16] "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, `If any one swears by the
temple, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gold of the temple,
he is bound by his oath.' [17] You blind fools! For which is greater,
the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? [18] And you
say, `If any one swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if one swears
by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' [19] You
blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the
gift sacred? [20] So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and
everything on it; [21] and he who swears by the temple, swears by it
and by him who dwells in it; [22] and he who swears by Heaven, swears
by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it."
Commentary:
13. Here comes our Lord's invective against the behavior of the scribes
and Pharisees: His "woes" condemn their past conduct and threaten them
with punishment if they do not repent and mend their ways.
14. As RSV points out, "other authorities add here (or after verse 12)
verse 14, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
devour widows' houses and for a pretense you make long prayers;
therefore you will receive greater condemnation." Our Lord is not
reproaching them for praying long prayers but for their hypocrisy and
cupidity. By going in for a lot of external religious practices, the
Pharisees wanted to be recognized as devout men and then trade on that
reputation particularly with vulnerable people. Widows, for example,
would ask them to say prayers; the Pharisees in turn would ask for
alms. What Jesus means here is that prayer should always come from an
upright heart and a generous spirit.
15. "Proselyte": a pagan convert to Judaism. The root of the word
means "he who comes", he who--coming from idolatry--joins the chosen
people in response to a calling from God. The Pharisees spared no
effort to gain converts. Our Lord reproaches them not for this, but
because they were concerned only about human success, their motivation
being vainglory.
The sad thing about these proselytes was that, after receiving the light
of Old Testament revelation, they remained under the influence of
scribes and Pharisees, who passed on to them their own narrow outlook.
22. Our Lord's teaching about taking oaths is given in the Sermon on
the Mount (Matthew 5:33-37). Jesus does away with the nitpicking
casuistry of the Pharisees by focusing directly on the uprightness of
the intention of the oath-taker and by stressing the respect due to
God's majesty and dignity. What Jesus wants is a pure heart, with no
element of deceit.
Our Lord particularly reproves any tendency to undermine the content of
an oath, as the Doctors of the Law tended to do, thereby failing to
respect holy things and especially the holy name of God. He therefore
draws attention to the commandment of the Law which says, `You shall
not take the name of the Lord your God in vain" (Exodus 20:7; Leviticus
19:12; Deuteronomy 5:11).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.