January 24, 2005
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church
Psalm: Monday 7
Reading IHeb 9:15, 24-28
Christ is mediator of a new covenant:
since a death has taken place
for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant,
those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands,
a copy of the true one, but heaven itself,
that he might now appear before God on our behalf.
Not that he might offer himself repeatedly,
as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary
with blood that is not his own;
if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly
from the foundation of the world.
But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages
to take away sin by his sacrifice.
Just as it is appointed that human beings die once,
and after this the judgment, so also Christ,
offered once to take away the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to take away sin
but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.
Responsorial PsalmPs 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6
R (1a) Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
R Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
GospelMk 3:22-30
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
"He is possessed by Beelzebul," and
"By the prince of demons he drives out demons."
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
"How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man"s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin."
For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
From: Hebrews 9:15, 24-28
The Rites of the Old Covenant Prefigure Those of the New
[15] Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who
are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death
has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first
covenants.
[22] Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood,
and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
[23] Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be
purified with these rites, but the heavenly things put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. [24] For Christ has entered, not into a
sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. [25] Nor
was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Holy
Place yearly with blood not his own; [26] for then he would have had to
suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he
has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. [27] And just as it is appointed for men to die
once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been
offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not
to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Commentary:
15-22. The covenant is shown to be new because it has been ratified by
the death and by the shedding of the blood of the testator or mediator.
"Man, having fallen into sin, was in debt to divine justice and was the
enemy of God. The Son of God came into the world and clothed himself in
human flesh; being both God and man he became the mediator between man
and God, the representative of both sides, so as to restore peace
between them and obtain divine grace for man, giving himself as an
offering to pay man's debt with his blood and his death. This
reconciliation was prefigured in the Old Testament in all the
sacrifices that were offered in that period and in all the symbols
which God ordained--the tabernacle, the altar, the veil, the lampstand,
the thurible and the ark where the rod of Aaron and the tables of the
Law were kept. All these were a sign and type of the Promised
redemption; and it was because that redemption would come about through
the blood of Christ that God specified the blood of animals--a symbol
of the blood of the divine Lamb--and laid it down that all the
symbolic objects mentioned above should be sprinkled with blood:
'Hence even the first Covenant was not ratified without blood"'
("ibid.", 9, 2).
For a third time Christ is stated to be the mediator of a New Covenant.
Hebrews 7:22 and 8:6 say that he is the mediator of a better covenant
because it can give eternal life. Here, as in 12:24, it is explained
that Christ is the mediator of a New Covenant, ratified by blood which
gives an eternal inheritance. The emphasis is on the sacrificial
aspect: Christ is the mediator insofar as he is the atoning victim and
at the same time the offerer of the sacrifice: in his sacrifice he is
both priest and victim. "Christ is priest indeed; but he is priest for
us, not for himself. It is in the name of the whole human race that he
offers prayer and acts of human religious homage to his Eternal Father.
He is likewise victim; but victim for us, since he substitutes himself
for guilty mankind. Now the Apostle's exhortation, 'Yours is to be the
same mind as Christ Jesus showed ' (Phil 2:5), requires all Christians,
so far as human power allows, to reproduce in themselves the sentiments
that Christ had when he was offering himself in sacrifice--sentiments
of humility, of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving to the divine
Majesty. It requires them also to become victims, as it were;
cultivating a spirit of self-denial according to the precepts of the
Gospel, willingly doing works of penance, detesting and expiating their
sins" ("Mediator Dei", 22).
Christ's sacrifice is not only effective to forgive our sins; it is a
manifestation of our Redeemer's love for us and it sets an example
which we should follow. "And if God forgives us our sins it is so that
we might use the time that remains to us in his service and love. And
the Apostle concludes, saying, 'Therefore he is the mediator of a new
covenant.' Our Redeemer, captivated by his boundless love for us, chose
to rescue us, at the cost of his blood, from eternal death; and he
succeeded in doing so, for if we serve him faithfully until we die we
shall obtain from the Lord forgiveness and eternal life. Such were the
terms of the testament, mediation or compact between Jesus Christ and
God" ("Reflections on the Passion", 9, 2).
15-17. As the RSV note points out the Greek word can be translated as
either "covenant" or "will". The context and the parallel with the
covenant of Sinai suggest the idea of covenant or pact, since the
covenant with the chosen people was an unilateral pact, that is, a
concession granted by God; however, it too can also be taken in a broad
sense as a "will". Both the word "mediator" and the word "testator"
(the one who makes the will) applied here to Christ serve to emphasize
that his death needed to involve the shedding of blood. His is a death
whereby we are called to "receive the promised eternal inheritance":
"The work of our Redemption has been accomplished. We are now children
of God, because Jesus has died for us and his death has ransomed us.
"Empti enim estis pretio magno!" (1 Cor 6:20), you and I have been
bought at a great price.
"We must bring into our life, to make them our own, the life and death
of Christ. We must die through mortification and penance, so that
Christ may live in us through Love. And then follow in the footsteps of
Christ, with a zeal to co-redeem all mankind" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way of
the Cross", XIV).
18-22. The shedding of Christ's blood was necessary for the
ratification of the New Covenant, just as the shedding of blood was
needed for that of the Sinai covenant. Moses' action following on his
solemn dialogue with God is described here in more detail than in the
Exodus 24 account, probably following a Jewish oral tradition. Verse 22
gives the reason why Moses sprinkled the book of the Law, the people,
the tabernacle and the ritual vessels: he did so to purify they; it is
formulating a very important principle, which rounds off the whole
point being made in this chapter--that the shedding of blood is needed
for purification and for forgiveness of sins.
Although the Old Testament had "purifications" carried out with water,
fire or cereal offerings--for example, cleansing from leprosy
uncleanness (cf. Lev 22:6; 14:1ff), or the purification of booty
captured from idolators (cf. Num 31:22-23)--in keeping with the Law
(cf. Lev 17:11) almost everything was purified with blood in the sense
that the sprinkling or anointing which the high priest carried out
implied involvement in the essential act of sacrifice--the shedding of
blood.
The Jews thought that the principle of life resided in blood, because
no one could live without blood. Life and blood were taken as almost
identical, and therefore God, the Lord of Life, was also the only owner
of the blood. Hence the prohibition, in the Law of Moses, on eating
food with blood in it: when a sacrifice was offered, the blood of the
victim was reserved to Yahweh. Since many types of purification were
done by blood offerings, the text says that "almost everything is
purified by blood".
In the case of the simpler types of purification, sprinkling with blood
was the most perfect but not the only method; but when it was a matter
of obtaining "forgiveness" of sins and not just legal purification, the
only recourse was a blood offering. That is why the rabbis used to say,
'There is no atonement without blood". It is true that the Old
Testament does speak of sins being forgiven through almsgiving (cf. Tob
4:8-11; 12:9; Dan 4:27), fasting, prayers and other penitential
practices, but it is referring to attitudes which express repentance.
These attitudes or dispositions would have been ineffective were they
not accompanied by worship of the true God by means of sacrifice. In
fact both blood sacrifices and interior sacrifices (fasting and
penance) were all orientated towards the ultimate sacrifice--the
shedding of Christ's blood. Therefore, the principle enunciated by the
rabbis, which is the background to v. 22, finds its perfect fulfillment
only in Christ's sacrifice: without the shedding of his blood, there is
no forgiveness of sin.
"In our case it was Christ, not Moses, who sprinkled us with blood,
through the words he spoke: 'This is the blood of the new covenant for
the forgiveness of sins.' By these words, not by hyssop smeared by
blood, did he sprinkle all. Previously, people's bodies were cleansed
externally, because it was a matter of physical purification; whereas
now, since the cleansing is spiritual, it penetrates the soul and
purifies it, not by mere sprinkling but, as it were, by a fount which
wells up in our souls" (St John Chrysostom, Hom. on fileb, 16).
The shedding of Christ's blood is in some way renewed when any
sacrament is being administered, particularly so at the eucharistic
consecration when the priest repeats the words of consecration, "this
is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.
It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven".
Therefore, the Church, in awe at the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice,
commemorates his passion in these words: "But when thirty years were
over, / time had made that fame mature; / now, his long-predestined
passion / Christ will willingly endure: / on the cross the Lamb is
lifted--/ Lo! the Victim they secure. / Of the gall he drinks,
out-wearied, / thorns and nails and spear have vied, / till the blood
and water issue / from his gentle riven side: / earth, sea, stars, yea
all creation / lave them in that cleansing tide" ("Liturgy of the
Hours", Hymn at lauds in Passiontide, trs. Fitzpatrick).
23-28. In these verses the sacred writer adds some additional
considerations to the main line of his argument. His thought centers on
linking the sanctuary, the sacrifices which were offered in the Old
Testament sanctuary, and the sacrifice of the New Covenant. It was
"necessary" for Christ to shed his blood so that men might" receive the
promised eternal inheritance" (9:15), that is, forgiveness of their
sins (cf. 9:14). This shedding of blood is also necessary for the
"purification" of the heavenly things (9:23). The sacrifices of the
Mosaic liturgy purified the things of the old sanctuary and, in some
way, pointed to forgiveness of sins (9:9, 10). The sacrifice of Christ,
on the other hand, really does blot out sin and opens for us the way to
heaven itself, giving us entry into that new sanctuary (7:25; 9:12).
But the parallel is not a perfect one, for the old sacrifices were
multiple and were constantly repeated in petition of forgiveness
(9:25). The sacrifice of Christ, on the contrary, is a unique
sacrifice, because it is eternally effective (7:27; 9:12). Moreover,
whereas the high priest offered a sacrifice not with his own blood but
with the blood of animals, Christ offered his own blood in sacrifice.
Therefore, Christ has offered himself "once" (7:28; 9:12, 26, 28) in
the same sort of way as every man has to die only once and then
undergoes judgment. Furthermore, through his sacrifice Christ has
passed through the heavens once and for all and will not return to
earth to renew his sacrifice. He will not return until the end of time,
when he will come in glory.
Two truths interweave here a number of times. The first is that Christ
entered forever not into a temple made by man but into heaven itself
(9:24; 7:26; 8:1). The second is that Christ also enables us to enter
into glory; that is, his sacrifice and his entry into heaven enable man
to attain his last end.
27-28. These verses look at three basic truths of Christian belief
about the last things--1) the immutable decree of death; 2) the fact
that there is a judgment immediately after death; 3) the second coming
of Christ, in glory.
"Not to deal with sin": this phrase means that the second coming of
Christ or Parousia, will not be for the purpose of redeeming men from
sin but rather to bring salvation, that is, glory, to those who placed
their hope in him. Christ will come into the world for a second time,
but not as Redeemer, for his sacrifice has already eliminated sin once
for all; rather, he will come as Judge of all. His coming "is
appointed": it is as necessary as death and judgment. These three
truths are closely interconnected.
Although man is mortal, "a spiritual element survives and subsists
after death, an element endowed with consciousness and will, so that
the 'human self' subsists. To designate this element, the Church uses
the word 'soul', the accepted term in the usage of Scripture and
Tradition" (SCDF, "Letter on Certain Questions Concerning Eschatology",
17 May 1979).
Man, then, is made up of a spiritual and immortal soul and a
corruptible body. However, when God originally endowed man with
supernatural grace, he gave him additional gifts, the so-called
"preternatural" gifts, which included bodily immortality. Adam's
disobedience resulted in the loss of his friendship with God and the
loss of this preternatural gift. From that point onwards death is "the
wages of sin" (Rom 6:23), and it is to this divine decision that the
text refers when it says that it "is appointed for men to die" (cf. Gen
3:19, 23; Rom 5:12). The Church has repeatedly stressed that death is a
punishment; cf., for example, Pius VI, "Auctorem Fidei", prop. 1, 7:
"in our present state (death) is inflicted as a just punishment for
sin"; immortality was an "unmerited gift and not a natural condition".
Verses 27-28 are an implicit exhortation to watchfulness (cf. also 1
Cor 7:29; Sir 14:12; and "Lumen Gentium", 48).
Immediately after death everyone will be judged on the conduct of his
life. All "are to give an account of their lives; those who have done
good deeds will go into eternal life; those who have done evil will go
into everlasting fire" ("Athanasian Creed"). This is something which
reason with the help of God's Word can discover, because people with a
correct moral sense realize that good deserves to be rewarded and evil
punished, and that it is impossible for this to occur completely in
this life. It is difficult to say whether Hebrews 9:27 is referring to
the "particular judgment", which happens immediately after death, or to
the general judgment, which will take place on the last day. Both
interpretations can be supported, for the judgment the verse refers to
is connected, on the one hand, with death, and on the other with the
second coming of Christ. In any event, it is clear that what is meant
is a "personal" judgment, a trial at which each individual will be
judged by Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:10; Rom 14:10). The existence of a
general judgment does not conflict with the certainty that there is a
particular judgment, for the Church, in line with Sacred Scripture,
although it awaits the glorious revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ on
the last day, sees that event as distinct from and separate in time
from the judgment which every individual will undergo immediately after
death (cf. "Letter on Eschatology, op. cit.").
The idea of death and judgment, however, should not only inspire fear;
it should also lead us to hope in Christ, for our Lord will come a
second time to show himself a merciful judge to "those who are eagerly
waiting for him".
Christians, therefore, combine their joyful hope in the establishment
of the Kingdom of God, which they wholeheartedly desire, with a desire
to make the best possible use of the time allotted to them in this
life. "This urgent solicitude of the Church, the Spouse of Christ, for
the needs of men--for their joys and hopes, their griefs and labors--is
nothing other than her intense desire to share them in full, in order
to illuminate men with the light of Christ and to gather together and
unite all in him who alone is the Savior of each one of them. This
solicitude must never be taken to mean that the Church conforms herself
to the things of this world, or that her longing for the coming of her
Lord and his eternal reign grows cold" (Paul VI, "Creed of the People
of God").
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
From: Mark 3:22-30
Allegations of the Scribes
[22] And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He (Jesus) is
possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons He casts out the
demons." [23] And He called them to Him, and said to them in parables,
"How can Satan cast out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against
itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25] And if a house is divided
against itself, that house will not be able to stand. [26] And if
Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but
is coming to an end. [27] But no one can enter a strong man's house
and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then
indeed he may plunder his house."
Sins Against the Holy Spirit
[28] "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men,
and whatever blasphemies they utter; [29] but whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an
eternal sin"--[30] for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
Commentary:
22-23. Even Jesus' miracles were misunderstood by these scribes, who
accuse Him of being a tool of the prince of devils, Beelzebul. This
name may be connected with Beelzebub (which spelling is given in some
codexes), the name of a god of the Philistine city of Eqron (Accaron),
which means "god of the flies." But it is more likely that the prince
of devils is called Beelzebul, which means "god of excrement":
"excrement" is the word Jews used to describe pagan sacrifices.
Whether Beelzebub or Beelzebul, in the last analysis it refers to him
to whom these sacrifices were offered, the devil (1 Corinthians
10:20). He is the same mysterious but real person whom Jesus calls
Satan, which means "the enemy", whose dominion over the world Christ
has come to wrest from him (1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Colossians 1:13f)
in an unceasing struggle (Matthew 4:1-10; John 16:11). These names
show us that the devil really exists: he is a real person who has at
his beck and call others of his kind (Mark 5:9).
24-27. Our Lord invites the Pharisees, who are blind and obstinate, to
think along these lines: if someone expels the devil this means he is
stronger than the devil: once more we are exhorted to recognize in
Jesus the God of strength, the God who uses His power to free man from
enslavement to the devil. Satan's dominion has come to an end: the
prince of this world is about to be cast out. Jesus' victory over the
power of darkness, which is completed by His death and resurrection,
shows that the light has already entered the world, as our Lord Himself
told us: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of
this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself" (John 12:31-32).
28-30. Jesus has just worked a miracle but the scribes refuse to
recognize it "for they had said `He has an unclean spirit'" (verse
30). They do not want to admit that God is the author of the miracle.
In this attitude lies the special gravity of blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit--attributing to the prince of evil, to Satan, the good works
performed by God Himself. Anyone acting in this way will become like
the sick person who has so lost confidence in the doctor that he
rejects him as if an enemy and regards as poison the medicine that can
save his life. That is why our Lord says that he who blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit will not forgiven: not because God cannot
forgive all sins, but because that person, in his blindness towards
God, rejects Jesus Christ, His teaching and His miracles, and despises
the graces of the Holy Spirit as if they were designed to trap him (cf.
"St. Pius V Catechism", II, 5, 19; St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa
theologiae", II-II, q. 14, a. 3).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
