From: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Various Counsels (Continuation)
Closing Prayer and Farewell
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Commentary:
16. Being at peace with God and with others fills one with joy and serenity, so
much so that even great suffering and sorrow, if borne with faith, cannot take a
way one’s joy. “Being children of God, how can we be sad? Sadness is the end
product of selfishness. If we truly want to live for God, we will never lack cheerful-
ness, even when we discover our errors and wretchedness. Cheerfulness finds
its way into our life of prayer, so much so that we cannot help singing for joy.
For we are in love, and singing is a thing that lovers do” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends
of God”, 92).
When someone allows sadness to overwhelm him, even his prayers to God are
of no avail because he is failing to accept God’s will. An anonymous second-
century Christian writer, in a famous document, says: “Why does the prayer of
the melancholy man not reach up to the altar of God? [...] Because supplication
when mixed with melancholy is prevented from ascending pure to the altar. Just
as wine mixed with vinegar has no longer the same flavor, so the Holy Spirit
mixed with melancholy has not the same power of supplication. Cleanse your-
self, therefore, of this evil melancholy, and you will live for God. So, too, will they
live for God who cast away melancholy and clothe themselves entirely in joy”
(”The Shepherd of Hermas”, 10th Commandment, 3).
17. Our Lord impressed on his Apostles the need for prayer at all times, and
underlined this by his own life of prayer (cf. Lk 18:1). “The Apostle”, St Jerome
says, “tells us to pray always. For holy people, even sleep is a prayer. However,
we should have certain times of prayer spread out over the day so that, even if
we are involved in some task, the timetable we have given ourselves will remind
us that duty calls” (”Letter”, 22, 37).
“A Christian life should be one of constant prayer, trying to live in the presence
of God from morning to night and from night to morning. A Christian can never be
a lonely person, since he lives in continual contact with God, who is both near us
and in heaven [...]. in the middle of his daily work, when he has to overcome his
selfishness, when he enjoys the cheerful friendship of other people, a Christian
should rediscover God” (St.J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 116).
18. This verse completes the triptych which shows the Christian how to live in
line with “the will of God”—joy (v. 16), prayer (v. 17) and thanksgiving.
“There is no one”, St Bernard says, “who, if he just thinks about it a little, cannot
find very good reasons to express his gratitude to God” (”Sermon on the Sixth
Sunday after Pentecost”, 2, 1). In addition to life itself and all the natural gifts we
have received, there are the fruits of the Redemption wrought by Christ, and even
“the natural order of things requires that he who has received a favor should, by
repaying it, turn to his benefactor in gratitude” (”Summa Theologiae”, II-II, q. 106,
a. 3). It follows that gratefulness should be a permanent attitude of the children
of God, whether they find themselves in pleasant or disagreeable circumstances,
for they know that “in everything God works for good with those who love him”
(Rom 8:28). “If things go well, let us rejoice, blessing God who makes them pros-
per. And if they go badly? Let us rejoice, blessing God who allows us to share in
the sweetness of his Cross” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 658).
19-22. No one should smother the graces and charisms the Holy Spirit grants as
he wishes (cf. 1 Cor 13 and 14); and the gift of prophecy (v. 20) should be held in
special regard. The “prophets” referred to in the New Testament were Christians
to whom God gave special graces to encourage, console, correct or instruct o-
thers. They did not constitute a special class or group, as was the case in the
Old Testament. Some of them may at times have abused their gifts and tried to
impose their counsel on others, but that does not mean that those who had this
gift were not to be held in high regard, for thanks to this charism they were a
great asset to the Church.
“It is only through the sacraments and the ministrations of the Church that the
Holy Spirit makes holy the people of God, leads them and enriches them with
his virtues. Allotting his gifts according as he wills it (cf. 1 Cor 12:11), he also dis-
tributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts he makes
them fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and buil-
ding up of the Church, as it is written, ‘to each is given the manifestation of the
Spirit for the common good’ (1 Cor 12:7). Whether these charisms be very remar-
kable or more simple and widely diffused they are to be received with thanksgiving
and consolation since they are fitting and useful for the needs of the Church. Ex-
traordinary gifts are not to be rashly desired, nor is it from them that the fruits of
apostolic labors are to be presumptuously expected. Those who have charge over
the Church should judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts, though
their office is not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold
fast to what is good (cf. 1 Thess 5:12 and 19-21)” (Vatican 11, “Lumen Gentium”,
12).
21. This verse refers directly to charisms and the discernment of charisms; but
it can be taken as advice to reflect prudently before taking any decision, so as
always to do the right thing.
23. “Spirit and soul and body”: three aspects which go to make up a well-inte-
grated human person. Spirit and soul are in fact two forms of the same principle.
Here soul refers to the principle of sensitive life, whereas “spirit” is the source
of man’s higher life; his intellectual life derives from his spirit, and this intellectual
life, once enlightened by faith, is open to the action of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom
1:9).
In this verse God is being invoked to “sanctify” believers, to preserve the purity
of the human person at all levels (spirit, soul and body). Given that even after Bap-
tism man has an inclination towards sin and often does offend the Lord (even if
not gravely), he needs to practice penance in order to stay unsullied. Moreover,
the “sanctification” which God brings about in man affects his entire being. In the
last analysis, Christian holiness is the fullness of the order established by God at
the Creation and reestablished after man’s sin. And so the Apostle invokes God
as “the God of peace”, for peace is, according to theological definition, “tranqui-
llity in order”. Sanctity gives all man’s faculties, physical as well as spiritual, their
perfection and wholeness, thereby rounding off and perfecting the natural order,
without superseding it.
Sanctification is the joint work of God and man. God’s action begins at Baptism
and develops thereafter (cf. 3:13); but for a person to attain lasting sanctity he
needs to make a constant effort to second God’s action. “Conversion is the task
of a moment; sanctification is the work of a lifetime. The divine seed of charity,
which God has sown in our souls, desires to grow, to express itself in deeds, to
yield results which continually coincide with what God wants. Therefore, we
must be ready to begin again, to find again—in new situations—the light and the
stimulus of our first conversion” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 58).
24. “He who calls you”: the Greek text conveys the idea of continuous action.
The calling which God addresses to a person is not an isolated event occurring
at a single point in his life; it is a permanent attitude of God, who is continually
calling us to be holy. Therefore, vocation is not something which can be lost; but
man’s response can cease. Faithfulness is an attitude of God: he always keeps
his promises and never ceases in his salvific purpose: “He who began a good
work in you will bring it to completion” (Phil 1:6); so holiness depends on divine
grace (which is always available) and on man’s response. Final perseverance is
a grace but it will not be denied to anyone who strives to do good. “Buoyed up
by this hope,” St Clement of Rome comments, “let us bind our souls to him who
is true to his word and righteous in his judgments. He who has forbidden us to
use any deception can much less be a deceiver himself” (”Letter to the Corin-
thians”, 1, 27).
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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: John 1:6-8, 19-28
Prologue
The Witness of John
[24] Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. [25] They asked him, “Then
why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”
[26] John answered, “I baptize with water; but among you stands One whom
you do not know, [27] even He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal
I am not worthy to untie.” [28] This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.
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Commentary:
6-8. After considering the divinity of the Lord, the text moves on to deal with his
incarnation, and begins by speaking of John the Baptist, who makes his appea-
rance at a precise point in history to bear direct witness before man to Jesus
Christ (Jn 1:15, 19-36; 3:22ff). As St Augustine comments: “For as much as he
[the Word Incarnate] was man and his Godhead was concealed, there was sent
before him a great man, through whose testimony He might be found to be more
than man” (”In Ioann. Evang.”, 2, 5).
All of the Old Testament was a preparation for the coming of Christ. Thus, the
patriarchs and prophets announced, in different ways, the salvation the Messiah
would bring. But John the Baptist, the greatest of those born of woman (cf. Mt
11:11), was actually able to point out the Messiah himself; his testimony marked
the culmination of all the previous prophecies.
So important is John the Baptist’s mission to bear witness to Jesus Christ that
the Synoptic Gospels stage their account of the public ministry with John’s testi-
mony. The discourses of St Peter and St Paul recorded in the Acts of the Apos-
tles also refer to this testimony (Acts 1:22; 10:37; 12:24). The Fourth Gospel
mentions it as many as seven times (1:6, 15, 19, 29, 35; 3:27; 5:33). We know,
of course, that St John the Apostle was a disciple of the Baptist before beco-
ming a disciple of Jesus, and that it was precisely the Baptist who showed him
the way to Christ (cf. 1:37ff).
The New Testament, then, shows us the importance of the Baptist’s mission,
as also his own awareness that he is merely the immediate Precursor of the
Messiah, whose sandals he is unworthy to untie (cf. Mk 1:7): the Baptist stres-
ses his role as witness to Christ and his mission as preparer of the way for the
Messiah (cf. Lk 1:15-17; Mt 3:3-12). John the Baptist’s testimony is undimi-
nished by time: he invites people in every generation to have faith in Jesus, the
true Light.
19-34. This passage forms a unity, beginning and ending with reference to the
Baptist’s “testimony”: it thereby emphasizes the mission given him by God to
bear witness, by his life and preaching, to Jesus as the Messiah and Son of
God. The Precursor exhorts people to do penance and he practices the auste-
rity he preaches; he points Jesus out as the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world; and he proclaims him boldly in the face of the Jewish authori-
ties. He is an example to us of the fortitude with which we should confess
Christ: “All Christians by the example of their lives and the witness of the word,
wherever they live, have an obligation to manifest the new man which they put
on in Baptism” (Vatican II, “Ad Gentes”, 11).
19-24. In this setting of intense expectation of the imminent coming of the Mes-
siah, the Baptist is a personality with enormous prestige, as is shown by the
fact that the Jewish authorities send qualified people (priests and Levites from
Jerusalem) to ask him if he is the Messiah.
John’s great humility should be noted: he is quick to tell his questioners: “I am
not the Christ”. He sees himself as someone insignificant compared with our
Lord: “I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandal” (verse 27). He places
all his prestige at the service of his mission as precursor of the Messiah and,
leaving himself completely to one side, he asserts that “He must increase, but
I must decrease” (John 3:30).
25-26. “Baptize”: this originally meant to submerge in water, to bathe. For the
Jews the rite of immersion meant legal purification of those who had contracted
some impurity under the Law. Baptism was also used as a rite for the incorpo-
ration of Gentile proselytes into the Jewish people. In the Dead Sea Scrolls
there is mention of a baptism as a rite of initiation and purification into the
Jewish Qumran community, which existed in our Lord’s time.
John’s baptism laid marked stress on interior conversion. His words of exhorta-
tion and the person’s humble recognition of his sins prepared people to receive
Christ’s grace: it was a very efficacious rite of penance, preparing the people for
the coming of the Messiah, and it fulfilled the prophecies that spoke precisely of
a cleansing by water prior to the coming of the Kingdom of God in the messianic
times (cf. Zechariah 13:1; Ezekiel 36:25; 37-23; Jeremiah 4:14). John’s baptism,
however, had no power to cleanse the soul of sins, as Christian Baptism does
(cf. Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:4).
“One whom you do not know”: Jesus had not yet publicly revealed Himself as
Messiah and Son of God; although some people did know as a man, St. John
the Baptist could assert that really they did not know Him.
27. The Baptist declares Christ’s importance by comparing himself to a slave un-
doing the laces of his master’s sandals. If we want to approach Christ, whom St.
John heralds, we need to imitate the Baptist. As St. Augustine says: “He who
imitates the humility of the Precursor will understand these words. [...] John’s
greatest merit, my brethren, is this act of humility” (”In Ioann. Evang.”, 4, 7).
28. This is a reference to the town of Bethany which was situated on the eastern
bank of the Jordan, across from Jericho—different from the Bethany where Laza-
rus and his family lived, near Jerusalem (cf. John 11:18).
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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.