From: Wisdom 6:1-11
Exhortation to rulers
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Commentary:
6:1-11. God will be particularly severe with kings and rulers when he judges
them; and there can be no appeal. His scrutiny will extend beyond their doings,
into their most hidden thoughts. But to the lowly he will be kind. This is an idea
we find in the song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel (cf. 1 Sam 2:4, 8-10), and
in the Magnificat of our Lady (cf. Lk 1:51-53): God will exalt the lowly and the
“poor”, those who cannot raise themselves up, but who trust in God; but he will
topple the “mighty” and the proud. It is a divine paradox, which seems to invert
human values (cf. Phil 2:6-11).
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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.
From: Luke 17:11-19
The Ten Lepers
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Commentary:
11-19. The setting of this episode explains how a Samaritan could be in the
company of Jews. There was no love lost between Jews and Samaritans (cf.
John 4:9), but shared pain, in the case of these lepers, overcame racial
antipathy.
The Law of Moses laid down, to prevent the spread of the disease, that lepers
should live away from other people and should let it be known that they were
suffering from this disease (cf. Leviticus 13:45-46). This explains why they did
not come right up to Jesus and His group, but instead begged His help by
shouting from a distance. Before curing them our Lord orders them to go to the
priests to have their cure certified (cf. Leviticus 14:2ff), and to perform the rites
laid down. The lepers’ obedience is a sign of faith in Jesus’ words. And, in fact,
soon after setting out they are cleansed.
However, only one of them, the Samaritan, who returns praising God and sho-
wing his gratitude for the miracle, is given a much greater gift than the cure of
leprosy. Jesus says as much: “Your faith has made you well” (verse 19) and
praises the man’s gratefulness. The Gospel records this event to teach us the
value of gratefulness: “Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanks-
giving, many times a day. Because He gives you this and that. Because you
have been despised. Because you haven’t what you need or because you
have.
“Because He made His Mother so beautiful, His Mother who is also your
Mother. Because He created the sun and the moon and this animal and that
plant. Because He made that man eloquent and you He left tongue-tied ....
“Thank Him for everything, because everything is good” (St. J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 268).
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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.