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From: Isaiah 55:6-9

Epilogue: Invitation to Partake of the Banquet of the Lord’s Covenant

[6] “Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
[7] let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
[8] for my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

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Commentary:

55:6-9. The Israelites are called to conversion. In order to return to their home-
land, they must return to God, must “seek” him (vv. 6-7). And the Lord, who
allows himself to be found and who does not judge in the way that men do, is
willing and able to grant forgiveness (vv. 8-9). In other words, the call to repen-
tance is grounded on the goodness of God who “will abundantly pardon” (v. 7).
Man, for his part, should grasp this opportunity that God offers him. So, the
words in this passage are a constant encouragement to begin and begin again
in the pursuit of virtue: “To be converted means to ask for forgiveness and to
seek out the strength of God in the Sacrament of reconciliation, and thus begin
again, advancing step by step every day, learning to overcome ourselves, to win
the spiritual battles that we face, and to give of ourselves joyfully, ‘for God loves
a cheerful giver’ (2 Cor 9:7)” (Bl. John Paul II, “Novo incipiente”, 8 April 1979).
And St Augustine, apropos of conversion, wrote: “Do not say: ‘Tomorrow, I will
he converted; tomorrow, I will give thanks to God; and all my sins, today’s and
yesterday’s, will be forgiven’. It is true that God promises forgiveness for your
conversion; but He does not promise tomorrow for your delays” (”Enarrationes
in Psalmos”, 144, 11).

The words of v. 8 are echoed by St Paul in Romans 11:33, and are a reminder
to us of just how narrow-minded we can be and how we can fail even to imagine
the great things that God has in store for us.

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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: Philippians 1:20-24, 27

St. Paul’s Own Circumstances (Continuation)

[20] It is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but
that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether
by life or by death. [21] For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. [22] If it is
to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I
cannot tell. [23] I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and
be with Christ, for that is far better. [24] But to remain in the flesh is more neces-
sary on your account. [25] Convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and con-
tinue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, [26] so that in me you
may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you
again.

Fight for the Faith

[27] Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether
I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one
spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

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Commentary:

20. “Christ will be honored in my body”: whether he lives (because that will allow
him to keep up his apostolic work) or whether he has to face martyrdom: in either
case he is able to bear witness to Christ.

Every Christian is linked to Christ through Baptism (cf. Rom 6:5) and this union is
strengthened by the Eucharist (cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17). A believer, therefore, should
aspire to identify with Jesus to such an extent that he can say with the Apostle,
“it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Everything any-
one has is a gift from God; and a Christian’s life in the body, with any suffering he
experiences, and even death, identifies him in some way with Christ’s own life:
this identification is the goal of every Christian.

21-26. St Paul expresses a desire to “depart” and be with Christ: the Greek verb
he uses has the sense of casting off (like a boat before it leaves harbor) or upping
stakes (like an army decamping): he sees death as a liberation from earthly ties,
which allows him immediately to “be with Christ”. These words indicate that those
who die in grace do not have to wait until the Last Judgment to enjoy God in hea-
ven. This was the teaching of the Church, based on Sacred Scripture, at the Se-
cond Council of Lyons: “the souls of those who after holy Baptism have acquired
no stain of sin at all, and those who having incurred the stain of sin are cleansed
. . . are received immediately into heaven” (”Profession of Faith of Michael Paleo-
logue”).

The Apostle is in two minds. But his desire to be with Christ does not inhibit his
generous work for the good of souls: he wants to stay in the world, in order to
continue working for the conversion of the Gentiles and to look after the Christian
communities which he has founded, which are going from strength to strength.

In spite of his uncertainty about his future, St Paul is inclined to think that he will
be allowed to continue his work to the spiritual advantage of the Philippians and
the other churches.

21. Death is “gain”, because, for a person who dies in the grace of God, it means
entering into the joy of the Lord, seeing him face to face (cf. 1 Cor 13:12) and en-
joying “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9). This desire to enjoy
God in heaven caused St Teresa of Avila to say: “I am living and yet I am not real-
ly living, for I place my hopes on such a higher life that I am dying because I do
not die” (”Poems”, 2).

“Christ himself, our teacher of salvation, shows us how useful it is to leave this life;
when his disciples became sad because he told them that he was going away, he
said to them, ‘If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father’
(Jn 14:28), thereby teaching them that, when those we love leave this world, we
should rejoice rather than be sad” (St Cyprian, “De Mortalitate”, 7). Faith shows us
that death is the definitive step into eternal life. However, to have a well-grounded
hope of attaining that goal we need to remember that for us, “to live is Christ” here
on earth also. For one thing, supernatural life is the life of grace, and this has been
won for us by Christ; also, knowing and loving Christ should be our life-purpose. A
Christian has to try to see that his life is fruitful in terms of holiness, and that he
uses all ordinary events and all his activities to draw others towards Christ.

“So, if you have encountered Christ,” Bl. John Paul II exhorts, “live for Christ, live
with Christ, and bear witness to him; proclaim this in the first person singular: ‘For
me to live is Christ.’ That is what true liberation also consists of—proclaiming Je-
sus Christ freed from attachments and present in men who are transformed and
become a new creation” (”Homily, Santo Domingo Cathedral”, October 1984).

27. The Greek term translated here as “let your manner of life be” has a more spe-
cific meaning “Live like good citizens.” The inhabitants of Philippi enjoyed Roman
citizenship and were very proud of this (cf. p. 101 above). However, in addition to
whichever positions they have in society, Christians are citizens of heaven (cf. Phil
3:20), and therefore they should lead a life “worthy of the gospel of Christ”, like
good citizens of the Kingdom of God where Christ reigns as king (cf. Jn 18:37), by
loyally obeying his laws—the new law of grace contained in the Gospel.

However, being a citizen of heaven is quite compatible with being a citizen of hu-
man society: “to acknowledge God is in no way to oppose the dignity of man,
since such dignity is grounded and brought to perfection in God. Man has in fact
been placed in society by God, who created him as an intelligent and free being;
but over and above this he is called as a son to intimacy with God and to share in
his happiness. (The Church) further teaches that hope in a life to come does not
take away from the importance of the duties of this life on earth but rather adds to
it by giving new motives for fulfilling those duties” (Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”,
21).

A truly Christian life in the middle of the world speaks to all, Christians or no, of the
presence of God and of his plans for the salvation of all mankind. Moreover, “what
does much to show God’s presence clearly is the brotherly love of the faithful who,
being all of one mind and spirit work together for the faith of the Gospel (cf. Phil 1:
18) and stand out as a sign of unity” (ibid.). This is essential to the effort to spread
the Kingdom of God, for “every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste” (Lk 11:
17). The early Christians really did put this teaching into practice: they were “of
one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32).

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