November 2013
Suffering Priests. That priests who experience difficulties may find comfort in their suffering, support in their doubts, and confirmation in their fidelity.
Latin American Churches. That as fruit of the continental mission, Latin American Churches may send missionaries to other Churches.
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Commentary of the day
Theodore of Mopsuestia (?-428), Bishop and theologian
Commentary on Saint John's Gospel, Book 2
"He is not God of the dead, but of the living"
At the basis of our present condition is Adam, but of our future life, Christ our Lord. For just as Adam was the first of mortal men and, consequently, all are mortal because of him, so Christ is the first to rise from the dead and has given the seed of resurrection to those who would come after him. We come into this visible life through birth in the body, which is why we are all perishable beings. But in the life to come we will be transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is why we shall rise up again imperishable.
This won't happen until that little seed of life has passed away. However, in this present time Christ our Lord has desired to bear us there in a symbolic way by giving baptism to us, that new birth into him. This spiritual birth is already the prefiguration of resurrection and the regeneration that is to be fully realized in us when we pass into the life there. This is why baptism is also termed regeneration...
When the apostle Paul speaks of the future life he wishes to reassure his hearers with these words: “Not only creation but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for the redemption of our bodies” (Rm 8,23). For if we have received the firstfruits of grace even now, we are waiting to receive it in its fulness when we are given the happiness of resurrection.