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From: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Greeting (Continuation)

[3] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.

Thanksgiving

[4] I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God
which was given you in Christ Jesus, [5] that in every way you were
enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge [6] even as the
testimony to Christ was confirmed among you--[7] so that you are not
lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our
Lord Jesus Christ; [8] who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] God is faithful, by whom you were
called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary:

1-9. With slight variations almost all St Paul's letters begin in the
same kind of way: there is a greeting (vv. 1-3), which carries the name
of the writer, information on the addressee(s), and the conventional
phrase; and an act of thanksgiving to God (vv. 4-9), in which the
Apostle refers to the main qualities and endowments of the Christians
to whom he is writing. By comparing his letters with other letters that
have come down to us from the same period, it is quite apparent that St
Paul usually begins his letters in the style of the time. yet he does
not entirely follow this rigid pattern: he changes the usual
opening--"Greeting!" (cf. Acts 15:23; 23:26)--to this more personal
one, which has a pronounced Christian stamp: "Grace to you and peace."
Also, the way in which he introduces himself and describes those he is
addressing tells much more than a simple "Paul to the Corinthians:
greeting!" Even his words of thanksgiving convey tenderness and
warmth--and their tone is not merely human, for he attributes to God
the virtues he praises in the faithful.

The Fathers of the Church have drawn attention to this characteristic
of Paul's letters--the way he manages to convey a deep doctrinal
message in a familiar style, nicely suited to whomever he happens to be
addressing: "A doctor", St John Chrysostom explains, "does not treat
the patient in the same way at the start of his illness as when he is
recovering; nor does a teacher use the same method with children as
with those who need more advanced tuition. That is how the Apostle
acts: he writes as suits the needs and the times" ("Hom. On Rom",
Prologue).

3. Peace of soul, that "serenity of mind, tranquillity of soul,
simplicity of heart, bond of love, union of charity" of which St
Augustine spoke ("De Verb. Dom. Serm.", 58), originates in the
friendship with God which grace brings with it; it is one of the fruits
of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22-23). This is the only true kind of
peace: "There is no true peace, just as there is no true grace, other
than the grace and peace which come from God," St John Chrysostom
teaches, "Possess this divine peace and you will have nothing to fear,
even if you be threatened by the direct danger, whether from men or
even from the demons themselves; whereas see how everything is a cause
of fear for the man who is at war with God through sin" ("Hom. on 1
Cor", 1, "ad loc".).

4-9. After the greeting, words of thanksgiving conclude the
introduction to the letter, before St Paul begins the doctrinal part.
He reminds the Corinthians that they owe their privileged position to
God. They, like all Christians, received God's grace in Christ, and
that grace has enriched them in every way, for it causes man to share
in God's very nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4), raising him to an entirely new
level of existence. This transfiguration enables a person, even here,
to know the perfections of God's inner life and to partake of that
life--albeit in a limited, imperfect way--through the theological
virtues of faith, hope and charity, which grace brings and which
elevate the mind and will to know and love God, One and Three.

St Paul teaches the need to give thanks to God and he sets us an
example in this regard. Obdurate sinners fail to acknowledge the
benefits God gives them (cf. Rom 1:21), but Christians should always
base their prayer on gratitude to God (cf. Phil 4:6). "Nothing charms
God more than a heart that is grateful either on its own account or on
account of others" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on 1 Cor", 2, "ad loc".).

5-6. The grace of God, mentioned in the previous verse, embraces gifts,
including those to do with eloquence and knowledge. So richly does God
endow the Christian that St Alphonsus exclaims: "Our wretchedness
should not make us uneasy, for in Jesus crucified we shall find all
richness and all grace (cf. 1 Cor 1:5, 7). The merits of Jesus Christ
have enriched us with all the wealth of God and there is no grace we
might desire that we cannot obtain by asking for it" ("The Love of God
Reduced to Practice", chap. 3). The Fathers interpret these gifts as
meaning that the Corinthians had such a good grasp of Christian
teaching that they were able to express it clearly: "There are those
who have the gift of knowledge but not that of speech; and there are
others who have the gift of speech but not knowledge. The faithful in
general, who are uneducated, know these truths, but they cannot clearly
explain what they have in their soul. You on the other hand, St Paul
says, are different; you know these truths and you can speak about
them; you are rich in the gift of speech and in that of knowledge"
(Chrysostom, "Hom. on 1 Cor", 2, "ad loc".).

8-9. "The day of our Lord': in St Paul's writings and in the New
Testament generally, this refers to the day of the General Judgment
when Christ will appear as Judge, clothed in glory (cf. 2 Cor 1:14; 1
Thess 5:2).

Christians actively hope that that Day will find them "blameless" (cf.
Phil 1:10; 1 Thess 3:13; 5:23); the basis for this hope is God's
faithfulness--an attitude frequently applied to him in the Old
Testament (cf. Deut 7:9; Is 49:7) and in St Paul's letters (cf. 1 Cor
10:13; 2 Cor 1:18; 1 Thess 5:24; 2 Thess 3:3; Heb 10:23): the Covenant
which God made with the chosen people was primarily a gift and a grace,
but it also was a legal commitment. The Covenant was grounded on God's
fidelity, which was not merely a matter of legal obligation: it
involved faithful, constant love. The God's fidelity will finds its
fullest _expression in the Redemption brought about by Jesus Christ:
"If, in fact, the reality of the Redemption," Pope John Paul II says,
"in its human dimension, reveals the unheard-of greatness of man, "qui
talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem", at the same time "the
divine dimension of the Redemption" enables us [...] to uncover the
depth of that love which does not recoil before the extraordinary
sacrifice of the Son, in order to satisfy the fidelity of the Creator
and Father towards human beings, created in his image" ("Dives In
Misericordia", 7).

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: Mark 13:33-37

The Time of the Destruction of Jerusalem (Continuation)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [33] "Take heed, watch and pray; for you
do not know when the time will come. [34] It is like a man going on a
journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with
his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. [35] Watch
therefore--for you do not know when the master of the house will come,
in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning--[36]
lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. [37] And what I say to you
I say to all: Watch."

Commentary:

33-37. "Watch": since we do not know when the Lord will come, we must
be prepared. Vigilance is, above all, love. A person who loves keeps
the commandments and looks forward to Christ's return; for life is a
period of hope and waiting. It is the way towards our encounter with
Christ the Lord. the first Christians often tenderly repeated the
aspiration: "Come, Lord Jesus" (1 Cor 16:22; Rev 22:20). By expressing
their faith and charity in this way, those Christians found the
interior strength and optimism necessary for fulfilling their family
and social duties, and interiorly detached themselves from earthly
goods, with the self-mastery that came from hope of eternal life.