Replies

From: Malachi 3:13-4:2 (NAB Mal 3:13-20b)

Sixth Exchange: The Righteous on the Day of the Lord

[13] “Your words have been stout against me, says the Lord. Yet you say,
‘How have we spoken against thee?’ [14] You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God.
What is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before
the Lord of hosts? [15] Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed; evildoers not
only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape.’”

[16] Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another; the Lord heeded
and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those
who feared the Lord and thought on his name. [17] “They shall be mine, says
the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will
spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. [18] Then once more
you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who
serves God and one who does not serve him.

[1] “For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and
all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the
Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. [2] But for you
who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.
You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall.

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Commentary:

3:13-4:3. The question posed here is similar to that in the fourth “dispute” (2:17-
3:5): if things go well for those who do evil and tempt God (v. 15), why should
one obey the Lord’s commandments (v. 14)? The prophet’s reply is very similar
to his previous one (cf. 3:2, 5): he announces a day of judgment when the wi-
cked will be destroyed (4:1, 3). However, Malachi is more explicit than he was
earlier as regards the reward of the righteous. The Lord is not unaware of the
trials and worries of those who fear him; in fact he is like a great king who re-
cords in his annals (cf. Esther 6:1-3) the good deeds of the just (3:16). There-
fore, the day when the Lord reveals himself will be for them a day of splendour
and inexpressible joy (4:2), for they enjoy God’s special protection (3:17-18).

The expression “sun of righteousness” (4:2), applied to the coming of the Lord,
is echoed in the New Testament Benedictus or canticle of Zechariah (cf. Lk 1:
78). Therefore, it is not surprising that Christian tradition should apply it to
Jesus Christ: “The Lord came in the evening to a world in decline, when the
course of life was almost run; but when the Sun of justice came, he gave new
life and began a new day for those who believed in him” (Origen, Homiliae in
Exodum, 7, 8).

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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: Luke 11:5-13

Effective Prayer

[5] And He (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), “Which of you who has a friend
will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; [6] for a
friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; [7]
and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my
children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’? [8] I tell you,
though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet be-
cause of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs. [9] And I
tell you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
will be opened to you. [10] For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks
find, and to him who knocks it will be opened. [11] What father among you, if his
son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; [12] or if he asks for
an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] If you then, who are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Ho-
ly Spirit to those who ask Him!”

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Commentary:

5-10. One of the essential features of prayer is trusting perseverance. By this
simple example and others like it (cf. Luke 18:1-7) our Lord encourages us not
to desist in asking God to hear us. “Persevere in prayer. Persevere even when
your efforts seem barren. Prayer is always fruitful” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”,
101).

9-10. Do you see the effectiveness of prayer when it is done properly? Are you
not convinced like me that, if we do not obtain what we ask God for, it is because
we are not praying with faith, with a heart pure enough, with enough confidence,
or that we are not persevering in prayer the way we should? God has never re-
fused nor will ever refuse anything to those who ask for His graces in the way
they should. Prayer is the great recourse available to us to get out of sin, to per-
severe in grace, to move God’s heart and to draw upon us all kinds of blessing
from Heaven, whether for the soul or to meet our temporal needs” (St. John Ma-
ry Vianney, “Selected Sermons”, Fifth Sunday after Easter).

11-13. Our Lord uses the example of human parenthood as a comparison to
stress again the wonderful fact that God is our Father, for God’s fatherhood is
the source of parenthood in Heaven and on earth (cf. Ephesians 3:15). “The God
of our faith is not a distant Being who contemplates indifferently the fate of men
— their desires, their struggles, their sufferings. He is a Father who loves His chil-
dren so much that He sends the Word, the Second Person of the Most Blessed
Trinity, so that by taking on the nature of man He may die to redeem us. He is
the loving Father who now leads us gently to Himself, through the action of the
Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, p.
84).

13. The Holy Spirit is God’s best gift to us, the great promise Christ gives His
disciples (cf. John 5:26), the divine fire which descends on the Apostles at Pen-
tecost, filling them with fortitude and freedom to proclaim Christ’s message
(Acts 2). “The profound reality which we see in the texts of Holy Scripture is not
a remembrance from the past, from some golden age of the Church which has
since been buried in history. Despite the weaknesses and the sins of every one
of us, it is the reality of today’s Church and the Church in all times. ‘I will pray to
the Father,’ our Lord told His disciples, ‘and He will give you another Counsellor
to be with you for ever.’ Jesus has kept His promise. He has risen from the dead
and, in union with the eternal Father, He sends us the Holy Spirit to sanctify us
and to give us life” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 12).

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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.