Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Sunday, August 14, 2011
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
Worship Open to All
[6] ”And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to
love the name of the Lord,and to be his servants, every one who keeps the sab-
bath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant — [7] these I will bring
to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt
offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be
called a house of prayer for all peoples.
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Commentary:
56:1-66:24. These chapters make up the third part of the book of Isaiah, some-
times called “Third Isaiah”. It consists of prophetic visions and oracles about the
new Zion and the nations of the earth. The variety of style and content here
makes it difficult to identify any clear structure: the sacred writer seems to have
drawn these oracles together, apparently content that they are all to do with the
End and all refer to the whole world and not just to Israel. But he has carefully
positioned chapter 61 in the middle, making it the high-point of these chapters.
Also, 56:1-8 and 66:18-24, which stress the universality of justice and worship,
are very appropriately positioned at start and finish. To make this part easier to
read, we have divided it into three sections in this edition. The first (56:1-59:21)
is a series of oracles that show salvation being extended to all mankind, even
though the sins of the people of God will cause delays. In the second
(60:1-64:11), the salvation that the Lord will provide is proclaimed to all the na-
tions from Jerusalem. And the third section (65:1-66:24) has as its theme the
judgment of God, handed down to each according to his or her merits, be it
punishment for sin, or salvation.
Historically, the oracles have to do with the years following the return from exile
after Cyrus issued his decree of repatriation (539 BC). It was for Judah a time for
“beginning again”. God sent messages of hope to raise the Jews’ spirits during
their years in exile and on their return, when they were confronted by a scene
of devastation. They cannot fail to see that, from now on, peace and salvation
are linked with a return to God, conversion, the practice of righteousness, and
holiness.
This means that the horizon of divine salvation extends to include the whole
world, extending beyond the narrow limits of Jewish nationalism. When the pro-
phetic texts speak of Zion, they see it as the center of a new view of mankind,
as a source of light for all nations. The new Jerusalem stands for a new order,
as it will in the Revelation to John. Although all the energies of repatriates are
focused on the rebuilding of the temple (60:7-13), the message here is that the
ultimate goal is not material reconstruction, for the throne of God is to be found
in heaven, and the earth is only his footstool (66:1-2). Hope in a glorious future
is not measured in terms of external institutions—in the monarchy (which does
not exist), or in any other human authority, or in force of arms. Even divine wor-
ship, and the rules and regulations to do with fasting and sacrifices, will be
cleansed of the old formalism (58:1-14). God will act directly to save his people
(62:2-12). The new horizon opened up by “Third Isaiah” has its parallel in Haggai
and Zechariah, and, above all, it prepares the way for the still-distant eschatolo-
gical vision found in the Revelation to John.
56:1-59:21. The new section looks forward to a salvation that is open to everyone
who practises righteousness (56: 1-12). However, the first announcement of this
is put on hold, as it were, due to the sins of the people of God; these delay the
manifestation of God’s salvific power, for he refuses to hearken to the prayers of
the ungodly (57:1-21). Therefore, first and foremost, the prophet issues a call to
conversion (58: 1-14), while promising that the Lord, who is faithful to his Cove-
nant, will reward people according to their actions: he will punish those who are
faithless and redeem those who return to him (59:1-21).
56:1-8. In the restored Jerusalem, the temple will begin to open its doors to all
peoples. What we were told at the start of the book (cf. 2:2-5) would happen “in
the latter days” is beginning to happen: the temple of the Lord will be a house of
prayer for those who previously could not enter it; it will be open to all peoples.
The old rulings (Lev 22:25; Deut 23:2-9) did not permit eunuchs or foreigners to
take part in the assembly of Israel (a similar approach is found in Ezra 9:1-12
and Nehemiah 9:1-2); but this oracle displays a much more open and universa-
list attitude (cf. V/is 3:14):there is no objection to eunuchs and foreigners provi-
ded that they observe the sabbath and the Covenant (cf. vv. 2, 4,6) Blood ties
are no longer the criteria for membership of the community of the people of God
now it suffices that a person keep to the moral teaching laid down in the old Co-
venant, and worship the true God.
The mission of the temple, rebuilt by the exiles after their return with its open in-
vitation to all without exception to come and worship God as part of his people,
will reach its fullness in the redemption wrought by Christ Jesus.When he clean-
ses the temple (Mt 21:12-13 and par.), appealing to the words of v. 6 (along with
Jeremiah 7:11; cf. note on same), this prophecy will be fulfilled.
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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.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Sunday, August 14, 2011
Solemnity: Vigil of the Assumption of Mary
From: 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57
The manner of the resurrection of the dead
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Commentary:
54-58. The chapter ends with the words of joy and thanksgiving to God for the tre-
mendous benefits bought by the death and resurrection of our Lord, benefits which
result from his victory over those enemies which had made man their slave – sin,
death and the devil. Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross – offering himself to God
the Father in atonement for all the offences of mankind – has conquered sin and
the devil, who attained power through sin. And his victory was completed by his
resurrection, which routed death. This has made it possible for his elect to be
raised in glory, and is the cause of their resurrection. “In Christ”, Bl. John Paul
II explains, “justice is done to sin at the price of his sacrifice, of his obedience
‘even to death’ (Phil 2:8). He who was without sin, ‘God made him to be sin for
our sake’ (2 Cor 5:21). Justice is also brought to bear upon death, which from the
beginning of man’s history has been allied to sin. Death has justice done to it at
the price of the death of the one who was without sin and who alone was able –
by means of his own death – to inflict death upon death (cf. 1 Cor 15:54f) […]. In
this way the cross, the Cross of Christ, in fact, makes us understand the deepest
roots of evil, which are fixed in sin and death; thus the Cross becomes an escha-
tological sign. Only in the eschatological fulfillment and definitive renewal of the
world will love conquer, in all the elect, the deepest sources of evil, bringing as its
fully mature fruit the kingdom of life and holiness and glorious immortality.
The foundation of this eschatological fulfillment is already contained in the Cross
of Christ and in his death. The fact that Christ ‘was raised the third day’ (1 Cor 15:
4) constitutes the final sign of the messianic mission, a sign that perfects the en-
tire revelation of merciful love in a world that is subject to evil. At the same time it
constitutes the sign that foretells ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Rev 21:1) when
God ‘will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither
shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have
passed away’ (Rev 21:4)” (Dives in misericordia, 8).
56-57 The Apostle here provides a summary of his teaching on the connections
between death, sin and the Mosaic Law, a teaching which is given in a much
more elaborate form in chaps 5-7 of his Letter to the Romans. Sin is the sting
of death in the sense that death entered the world through sin (cf. Rom 5:12) to
do harm to men. Sin, in its turn, grew as a result of and was reinforced by the
Mosaic Law: the Law did not induce people to sin but it was the occasion of in-
crease in sin in the sense that made it plainer where good lay and yet did not
provide the grace to enable man to avoid sin (cf. Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.).
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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.