September 5, 2005
Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm: Monday 39
Reading ICol 1:24–2:3
Brothers and sisters:
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
on behalf of his Body, which is the Church,
of which I am a minister
in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me
to bring to completion for you the word of God,
the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.
But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,
to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles;
it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.
It is he whom we proclaim,
admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
For this I labor and struggle,
in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you
and for those in Laodicea
and all who have not seen me face to face,
that their hearts may be encouraged
as they are brought together in love,
to have all the richness of assured understanding,
for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Responsorial PsalmPs 62:6-7, 9
R. (8)
In God is my safety and my glory.Only in God be at rest, my soul,
for from him comes my hope.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed.
R.
In God is my safety and my glory.Trust in him at all times, O my people!
Pour out your hearts before him;
God is our refuge!
R.
In God is my safety and my glory.
GospelLk 6:6-11
On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught,
and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.
But he realized their intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up and stand before us.”
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
“Stretch out your hand.”
He did so and his hand was restored.
But they became enraged
and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
From: Colossians 1:24-2:3
St. Paul's Response to His Calling
[24] Now I (Paul) rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my
flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake
of His body, that is, the Church, [25] of which I became a minister
according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make
the word of God fully known, [26] the mystery hidden for ages and
generations but now made manifest to His saints. [27] To them God
chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the
glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
[28] Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ.
St. Paul's Concern for the Faithful
[1] For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you, and for those
at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face, [2] that their
hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all
the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery,
of Christ, [3] in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge.
Commentary:
24. Jesus Christ our Lord perfectly accomplished the work the Father
gave Him to do (cf. John 17:4); as He said Himself when He was about to
die, "It is finished", it is accomplished (John 19:30).
From the point onwards objective redemption is an accomplished fact.
All men have been saved by the redemptive death of Christ. However,
St. Paul says that he completes in his flesh "what is lacking in
Christ's afflictions"; what does he mean by this? The most common
explanation of this statement is summarized by St. Alphonsus as
follows: "Can it be that Christ's passion alone was insufficient to
save us? It left nothing more to be done, it was entirely sufficient
to save all men. However, for the merits of the Passion to be applied
to us, according to St. Thomas ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 49, a. 3),
we need to cooperate (subjective redemption) by patiently bearing the
trials God sends us, so as to become like our Head, Christ" (St.
Alphonsus, "Thoughts on the Passion", 10).
St. Paul is applying this truth to himself. Jesus Christ worked and
strove in all kinds of ways to communicate His message of salvation,
and then He accomplished the redemption by dying on the Cross. The
Apostle is mindful of the Master's teaching and so he follows in His
footsteps (cf. 1 Peter 2:21), takes up his cross (cf. Matthew 10:38)
and continues the task of bringing Christ's teaching to all men.
Faith in the fact that we are sharing in the sufferings of Christ,
[Pope] John Paul II says, gives a person "the certainty that in the
spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption HE IS SERVING, like
Christ, THE SALVATION OF HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS. Therefore he is
carrying out an irreplaceable service. In the Body of Christ, which is
ceaselessly born of the Cross of the Redeemer, it is precisely
suffering permeated by the spirit of Christ's sacrifice that is THE
IRREPLACEABLE MEDIATOR AND AUTHOR OF THE GOOD THINGS which are
indispensable for the world's salvation. It is suffering, more than
anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms
human souls. Suffering, more than anything else, makes present in the
history of humanity the force of the Redemption" ("Salvifici Doloris",
27).
26-27. The "mystery", now revealed, is God's eternal plan to give
salvation to men, both Jews and Gentiles, making all without
distinction co-heirs of glory and members of a single body which is the
Church (cf. Ephesians 3:6), through faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Romans
16:25-26).
In Christ, who has brought salvation to Gentile and Jew, the "mystery"
is fully revealed. His presence in Christians of Gentile origin is in
fact a very clear manifestation of the supernatural fruitfulness of the
"mystery" and an additional ground for Christians' hope. Thanks to
this presence people who do not form part of Israel are enable to
attain salvation. Previously subject to the power of darkness and
slaves of sin (verses 13-14), they have now died to sin through Baptism
(cf. Romans 6:2-3) and Christ, through grace, dwells in their hearts
(on the salvific "mystery", cf. notes on Ephesians 1:13-14 and
Ephesians 1:9, and "Introduction to the Letters of St. Paul" in "The
Navarre Bible: Romans and Galatians", pages 32-33).
In His infinite love Christ lives in us through faith and grace,
through prayer and the Sacraments. Also, "He is present when the
Church prays and sings, for He has promised `where two or three are
gathered in My Name, there am I in the midst of them' (Matthew 18:20)"
(Vatican II, "Sacrosanctum Concilium", 7).
"Christ stays in His Church, its Sacraments, its liturgy, its
preaching--in all that it does. In a special way Christ stays with us
in the daily offering of the Blessed Eucharist [...]. The presence of
Christ in the host is the guarantee, the source and the culmination of
His presence in the world.
"Christ is alive in Christians". Our faith teaches that man, in the
state of grace, is divinized--filled with God. We are men and women,
not angels. We are flesh and blood, people with sentiments and
passions, with sorrows and joys. And this divinization affects
everything human; it is a sort of foretaste of the final resurrection"
([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 102-103).
28: "In all wisdom": St. Paul is exhorting and teaching each and every
one, communicating wisdom, the true teaching of Jesus Christ. The text
clearly shows St. Paul's conviction that he is a faithful transmitter
of teachings revealed by God. Possessed of such wisdom he is confident
that he can lead his disciples to Christian perfection.
2-3. The term "mystery", which St. Paul uses on other occasions (cf.
1:26; Ephesians 1:9), refers in this verse expressly to Christ: Christ
is the complete manifestation of the divine plan or "mystery" designed
to bring about the salvation of mankind. The name Jesus means Savior
and indicates His principal mission--to save the people of Israel (and
them all mankind) from their sins (cf. Matthew 1:21).
The assertion that in Christ "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge" is based on the fact that Christ--God made man--is the
incarnation of divine Wisdom itself, for Wisdom is one of the names
applied in Sacred Scripture to the second Person of the Blessed
Trinity. Hence St. Athanasius' comment that "God no longer chose to
make Himself know, as in times past, by the reflection and shadow of
wisdom to be seen in created things: He determined that Wisdom itself,
in person, should become incarnate, should be made man and suffer death
on the cross, so that from then on all the faithful might attain
salvation through faith grounded on the cross" ("Oratio II Contra
Arianos").
The infinite riches of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ means that
meditation on his life and his teachings is an inexhaustible source of
nourishment for the life of the soul. "There are great depths to be
fathomed in Christ. For He is like an abandoned mine with many
recesses containing treasures, of which, for all that men try to fathom
them, the end and bottom is never reached; rather in each recess men
continue to find new veins of new riches on all sides" (St. John of the
Cross, "Spiritual Canticle", 37, 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.
From: Luke 6:6-11
The Cure of a Man with a Withered Hand
[6] On another Sabbath, when He (Jesus) entered the synagogue and
taught, a man was there whose right hand was withered. [7] And the
scribes and the Pharisees watched Him, to see whether He would heal on
the Sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against Him.
[8] But He knew their thoughts, and He said to the man who had the
withered hand, "Come and stand here." And he rose and stood there.
[9] And Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to
do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?" [10] And He
looked around on them all, and said to him, "Stretch out your hand."
And he did so, and his hand was restored. [11] But they were filled
with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
Commentary:
10. The Fathers teach us how to discover a deep spiritual meaning in
apparently casual things Jesus says. St. Ambrose, for example,
commenting on the phrase "Stretch out your hand," says: "This form of
medicine is common and general. Offer it often, in benefit of your
neighbor; defend from injury anyone who seems to be suffering as a
result of calumny; stretch your hand out also to the poor man who asks
for your help; stretch it out also to the Lord asking Him to forgive
your sins; that is how you should stretch your hand out, and that is
the way to be cured" ("Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc".).
11. The Pharisees do not want to reply to Jesus' question and do not
know how to react to the miracle which He goes on to work. It should
have converted them, but their hearts were in darkness and they were
full of jealousy and anger. Later on, these people, who kept quiet in
our Lord's presence, began to discuss Him among themselves, not with a
view to approaching Him again but with the purpose of doing away with
Him. In this connection St. Cyril comments: "O Pharisee, you see Him
working wonders and healing the sick by using a higher power, yet out
of envy you plot His death" ("Commentarium in Lucam, in loc.").
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.
