From: 1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14
Greeting
[2] To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul Recalls His Own Conversion
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Commentary:
12-13. This clearly autobiographical passage, which shows the Apostle’s humi-
lity (cf., e.g., 1 Cor 15:9-10), is evidence of the letter’s Pauline authorship: it is
difficult to believe that a later disciple would have dared to call St Paul a “blas-
phemer”, “persecutor” or “insulter” or made him describe himself as “the fore-
most of sinners”.
St Paul’s conversion is an example of a miracle of grace; only by the mercy of
God could he have been changed and become the Apostle of the Gentiles and
such a faithful minister of the Gospel. This change which grace worked in Paul
can also help all who approach the Church to have great confidence in God’s
mercy and forgiveness; like a good father, God is always ready to receive the
repentant sinner.
The sacred text shows quite clearly that the initiative lies with God when it
comes to calling people to Church office. The call to the priesthood is a grace
from God; it is God who makes the choice and then he gives the person he has
chosen the strength to fulfill his office worthily. In this connection Bishop Alvaro
del Portillo has written: “Christian priesthood is not, then, in the line of ethical
relationships among men nor on the level of a merely human attempt to ap-
proach God: it is a gift from God and it is irreversibly located on the vertical line
of the search for man by his Creator and Sanctifier and on the sacramental line
of the gratuitous opening up to man of God’s intimate life. In other words, Chris-
tian priesthood is essentially (this is the only possible way it can be understood)
an eminently sacred mission, both in its origin (Christ) and in its content (the di-
vine mystery) and by the very manner in which it is conferred—a sacrament”
(”On Priesthood”, pp. 59f).
14. “In Christ Jesus”: this expression is being used with a special technical
meaning: it refers to the position of the new man who, after the “washing of re-
generation and renewal in the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5) which takes place at Bap-
tism, is now united to Christ, made a Christian. At Baptism the mercy of God
not only justifies the sinner but causes him to share profoundly in God’s own life
by means of grace, faith and love. These three gifts are a sign that the Christian
has truly been built into the body of Christ (cf. 2 Tim 1:13).
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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 6:39-42
Integrity
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Commentary:
[None for Luke 6:39-42. Below is a commentary on a similar theme from Matthew
7:1-5:]
1. Jesus is condemning any rash judgments we make maliciously or carelessly
about our brothers’ behavior or feelings or motives. “Think badly and you will not
be far wrong” is completely at odds with Jesus’ teaching.
In speaking of Christian charity St. Paul lists its main features: “Love is patient
and kind [...]. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4, 5, 7). Therefore, “Never think badly of anyone, not
even if the words or conduct of the person in question give you good grounds for
doing so” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 442).
“Let us be slow to judge. Each one sees things from his own point of view, as his
mind, with all its limitations, tells him, and through eyes that are often dimmed
and clouded by passion” (”ibid”., 451).
1-2. As elsewhere, the verbs in the passive voice (”you will be judged”, “the mea-
sure you will be given”) have God as their subject, even though He is not explicit-
ly mentioned: “Do not judge others, that you be not judged by God”. Clearly the
judgment referred to here is always a condemnatory judgment; therefore, if we do
not want to be condemned by God, we should never condemn our neighbor. “God
measures out according as we measure out and forgives as we forgive, and comes
to our rescue with the same tenderness as He sees us having towards others”
(Fray Luis de Leon, “Exposicion Del Libro De Job”, chapter 29).
3-5. A person whose sight is distorted sees things as deformed, even though in
fact they are not deformed. St. Augustine gives this advice: “Try to acquire those
virtues which you think your brothers lack, and you will no longer see their defects,
because you will not have them yourselves” (”Enarrationes In Psalmos”, 30, 2, 7).
In this connection, the saying, “A thief thinks that everyone else is a thief” is in
line with this teaching of Jesus.
Besides: “To criticize, to destroy, is not difficult; any unskilled laborer knows how
to drive his pick into the noble and finely-hewn stone of a cathedral. To construct
that is what requires the skill of a master” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 456).
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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.