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From: Deuteronomy 34:1-12

The Death of Moses

[1] And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pis-
gah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead
as far as Dan, [2] all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of
Judah as far as the Western Sea, [3] the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the valley
of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. [4] And the LORD said to him,
“This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give
it to your descendants. ‘I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go
over there.” [5] So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab,
according to the word of the LORD, [6] and he buried him in the valley in the land
of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows the place of his burial to this day.
[7] Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not
dim, nor his natural force abated. [8] And the people of Israel wept for Moses in
the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses
were ended.

[9] And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had
laid his hands upon him; so the people of Israel obeyed him, and did as the
LORD had commanded Moses.

A Eulogy of Moses

[10] And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the
LORD knew face to face, [11] none like him for all the signs and the wonders
which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his
servants and to all his land, [12] and for all the mighty power and all the great
and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel.

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Commentary:

34:1-12. Before he dies, Moses looks down on the promised land, and its main
regions (Transjordan), Galilee (Naphtali), Samaria (Ephraim and Manasseh) and
Judea. However, if one looks out from Mount Nebo it is not possible to see all
this panorama: only God could make Moses see all these territories. Zoar may
have been to the south-east of the Dead Sea.

“He buried him” (v. 6): the Hebrew construction does not allow us to say who the
subject of the verb is, but from the context it must be God.

The book of Sirach provides a short summary of the life of this man of God (cf.
Sir 45:1-5).

The Jewish scholar Philo of Alexandria (15 BC-AD 45) also praises his virtues,
and at length: he was the friend and disciple of God, who taught him “face to
face”; he was “a man of God”, able to work wonders and signs; he was greater
than the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph in his intimacy with God
and his grasp of the divine Word, which inspired him and guided him as a leader,
lawgiver, prophet, wonder-worker, ascetic and thinker (cf. “De Vita Mosis”, 1,
80, 154, 158; 2, 187-292; 3, 1-186).

St Gregory of Nyssa, one of the greatest Greek Fathers, praised Moses in the
following terms: “Our brief discourse has offered you, man of God, these things
concerning the perfection of the virtuous life, by describing to you the life of the
great Moses as a visible model of goodness, so that each of us, by imitating his
actions, may himself acquire the features of the beauty we have described. And
to know that Moses attained all possible perfection, what more worthy testimony
can we find than the divine word, when it says, “I know you by name” (Ex 33:12,
17)? Also (there is) the fact that he was called the friend of God by God himself
(cf. Ex 33:11), and the fact that, having chosen to perish with the others unless
God in his kindness overlooked the offense they had done him, he checked God’s
wrath against the Israelites, getting him to change his mind so as not to grieve
his friend (cf. Ex 32:7-14). All these testimonies are a clear proof that in his life
Moses attained the height of perfection” (”De Vita Mosis”, 2, 319).

34:10. “Face to face” conversation with God means a very intimate relationship,
but it does not have to be taken literally. The visions that the patriarchs—Abra-
ham, Moses himself, Elijah. Isaiah etc.—had of God in this world were indirect
ones; what they saw were various manifestations of the divine glory, the splendor
of his greatness. These Old Testament theophanies were surpassed by the epi-
phany of Jesus Christ; God could reveal himself to man in no more perfect way
than in the Incarnation of his eternal Word: “No one has ever seen God; the only
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (Jn 1:18).

Comparing the mission of Moses with that of Jesus, St Cyril of Alexandria taught:
“Our Lord Jesus Christ set the world free from its ancient offences; for He is the
truth and is holy by his very nature; he sanctifies those who have believed through
his blood, and he sets them above death, and he will, bring them into his own
kingdom of heaven, into the land that is truly holy and desirable—to the loftier man-
sions, to the heavenly city, to the Church of the first-born, whose maker and crea-
tor is God” (”Glaphyra In Deuteronomium”, 34:10).

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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: Matthew 18:15-20

Fraternal Correction. The Apostles’ Authority

(Jesus said to His disciples), [15] “If your brother sins against you, go and tell
him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained
your brother. [16] But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with
you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnes-
ses. [17] If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Church; and if he refuses
to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
[18] Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven. [19] Again I say to
you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it shall be done for
them by My Father in Heaven. [20] For where two or three are gathered in My
name, there am I in the midst of them.”

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Commentary:

15-17. Here our Lord calls on us to work with Him for the sanctification of others
by means of fraternal correction, which is one of the ways we can do so. He
speaks as sternly about the sin of omission as He did about that of scandal (cf.
Chrysostom, “Hom. on St. Matthew”, 61).

There is an obligation on us to correct others. Our Lord identifies three stages
in correction: 1) alone; 2) in the presence of one or two witnesses; and 3) before
the Church. The first stage refers to giving scandal and to secret or private sins;
here correction should be given privately, just to the person himself, to avoid un-
necessarily publicizing a private matter and also to avoid hurting the person and
to make it easier for him to mend his ways. If this correction does not have the
desired effect, and the matter is a serious one, resort should be had to the se-
cond stage—looking for one or two friends, in case they have more influence on
him. The last stage is formal judicial correction by reference to the Church au-
thorities. If a sinner does not accept this correction, he should be excommuni-
cated; that is, separated from communion with the Church and Sacraments.

18. This verse needs to be understood in connection with the authority previous-
ly promised to Peter (cf. Matthew 16:13-19): it is the hierarchy of the Church
that exercises this power given by Christ to Peter, to the Apostles and their
lawful successors — the Pope and the Bishops.

19-20. “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est: where charity and love resides, there
God is”, the Holy Thursday liturgy intones, drawing its inspiration from the sa-
cred text of 1 John 4:12. For it is true that love is inconceivable if there is only
one person: it implies the presence of two or more (cf. Aquinas, “Commentary
on St. Matthew”, 18:19-20). And so it is that when Christians meet together in
the name of Christ for the purpose of prayer, our Lord is present among them,
pleased to listen to the unanimous prayer of His disciples: “All those with one
accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the
mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). This is why the Church from the very beginning
has practiced communal prayer (cf. Acts 12:5). There are religious practices—
few, short, daily “that have always been lived in Christian families and which I
think are marvelous—grace at meals, morning and night prayers, the family ro-
sary (even though nowadays this devotion to our Lady has been criticized by
some people). Customs vary from place to place, but I think one should always
encourage some acts of piety which the family can do together in a simple and
natural fashion” (St. J. Escriva, “Conversations”, 103).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.