Monday of the First week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day
Saint Jerome (347-420), priest, translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church
Homilies on Saint Mark's Gospel, no.2A ; SC 494
"This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand"
“After John had been arrested, Jesus came into Galilee...” According to our interpretation, John stands for the Law and Jesus the Gospel. Indeed, John says: “One mightier than I is coming after me...” (Mk 1,7), and elsewhere: “He must increase, I must decrease” (Jn 3,30): in this way he compares the Law with the Gospel. And afterwards he says: “I – that is, the Law – baptize you with water; he – that is the Gospel – will baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1,8). And so Jesus comes because John had been put in prison. In effect, the Law is finished, it has been brought to an end, it no longer has its former freedom. But we have passed from the Law to the Gospel...
“Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom of God”... When I read the Law, prophets and psalms, I never heard them speak of the Kingdom of heaven; only in the gospel. For only when he came of whom it is said “the Kingdom of God is in your midst” (Lk 17,21) that God's Kingdom was thrown open... In fact, before the Savior's coming and the light of the Gospel, before Christ opened the gate of paradise with the thief (Lk 23,43), all holy souls descended to the place of the dead. Jacob himself said: “I will go down weeping and mourning to the nether world” (Gn 37,35)... In the Law, Abraham rests with the dead; in the gospel, the thief is in paradise. We are not denigrating Abraham, we all want to rest in his bosom (Lk 16,23); but we prefer Christ to Abraham, the Gospel to the Law.
We read that after Christ's resurrection many saints appeared in the holy city (Mt 27,53). Our Lord and Savior preached on earth and preached, too, to the underworld. He died and descended to hell to free the souls held captive there (1Pt 3,18f.).
| Monday, January 13, 2014 Weekday |
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