June 10, 2015

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters:
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit
for anything as coming from us;
rather, our qualification comes from God,
who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant,
not of letter but of spirit;
for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious
that the children of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses
because of its glory that was going to fade,
how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious?
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious,
the ministry of righteousness will abound much more in glory.
Indeed, what was endowed with glory
has come to have no glory in this respect
because of the glory that surpasses it.
For if what was going to fade was glorious,
how much more will what endures be glorious.

Responsorial Psalm PS 99:5, 6, 7, 8, 9

R. (see 9c) Holy is the Lord our God.
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his footstool;
holy is he!
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
and Samuel, among those who called upon his name;
they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they heard his decrees and the law he gave them.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
O LORD, our God, you answered them;
a forgiving God you were to them,
though requiting their misdeeds.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.
Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for holy is the LORD, our God.
R. Holy is the Lord our God.

Alleluia Ps 25:4b, 5a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
and guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mt 5:17-19

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

From: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

Christian Ministry is Superior to that of the Old Covenant

[4] Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. [5] Not that
we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us;our sufficiency
is from God, [6] who has qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a
written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.

[7] Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such
splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face because of its bright-
ness, fading as this was, [8] will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended
with greater splendor? [9] For if there was splendor in the dispensation of con-
demnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.
[10] Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splen-
dor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it. [11] For if what faded
away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor.

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Commentary:

4-11. In these verses St Paul deals with a subject which he discusses more ful-
ly in his epistles to the Romans and the Galatians—the superiority of the New
Covenant, through which Christ reconciles men to God their Father, over the Old
Covenant which God made with Moses. Here he just outlines the superiority of
the Apostles’ ministry over that of Moses. The latter was a dispensation of death
and condemnation (vv. 6,7,9) and it was temporary (vv. 7, 11); that of the Apos-
tles, on the other hand, is a dispensation of life and salvation (vv. 6-9) and it is
permanent (v. 11). So, if the ministry of Moses was splendid, that of the Apos-
tles will be all the more splendid.

When St Paul speaks of a ministry of “death” and “condemnation” (vv. 7, 9), this
does not mean that the Old Covenant was not something in itself holy and just,
but that the Law of Moses—part of that Covenant—although it pointed the way to
righteousness, was inadequate because it did not give people the resources to
conquer sin. It is in this sense that the Old Law can be said to have involved
death and condemnation: for it made the sinner more conscious of the gravity of
his sin, thereby increasing his guilt (cf. Romans, chapter 7-8 and corresponding
notes): “For,” St Thomas Aquinas explains, “it is more serious to sin against the
natural law when that law is written down, than against the natural law on its own”
(”Commentary on 2 Cor, ad loc.”).

5. The Magisterium of the Church quotes these words when teaching the need
for the Holy Spirit to enlighten and inspire man to enable him to accept the truths
of faith or choose some good connected with eternal salvation (cf. Second Coun-
cil of Orange, can. 7). Therefore, anyone is foolish who thinks he can claim as
his own the good deeds he does or the apostolic results he obtains: they are in
fact a gift from God. As St Alphonsus says, “the spiritual man dominated by
pride is the worst kind of a thief because he is stealing not earthly things but the
glory that belongs to God [...] For, as the Apostle tells us, we, on our own, can-
not do anything good or even have a good thought (cf. 2 Cor 3:5) [...]. Therefore,
whenever we do something good, let us say to the Lord, ‘We return to thee, 0
Lord, what we have received from thee’ (cf. 1 Chron 29:14)” (”Treasury of Prea-
ching Material”, II, 6).

6. Taking up again the simile he has used in v. 3, St Paul speaks about the “let-
ter” and the “Spirit” (cf. Rom 2:29; 7:6) to show the difference between the Law
of the Old Testament and that of the New. The Law of Moses is the “letter”
insofar as it simply publishes the precepts which man must keep, without pro-
viding the grace necessary for keeping them. The New Law, on the other hand,
is the “Spirit”, because it is the Holy Spirit himself who, through grace, spreads
charity in the hearts of the faithful (cf. Rom 5:5), and charity is the fullness of the
Law (cf. Rom 13:10). “What is predominant in the law of the New Testament,” St
Thomas Aquinas explains, “and whereon all its efficacy is based, is the grace of
the Holy Spirit, which is given through faith in Christ. Consequently the New Law
is chiefly the grace itself of the Holy Spirit, which is given to those who believe in
Christ” (”Summa Theologiae”, I-Il, q. 106, a. 1). Hence the law of the Gospel can
also be called the law of the Spirit (cf. Rom 8:2), the law of grace or the law of
charity.

After pointing out how the Law of Moses laid down the death penalty for certain
sins, St John Chrysostom comments: “The Law, if it lays hold of a murderer,
puts him to death; the Gospel, if it lays hold of a murderer, enlightens him and
gives him life [...]. How lofty is the dignity of the Spirit, seeing that his tables are
better than those former ones [the “tables” of the Law], for they do even greater
things than raising a dead man to life! For the death from which grace delivers us
is much more lamentable than physical death’ (”Hom, on 2 Cor. 6”).

7-10. In the Book of Exodus (34:29-35), we are told that the face of Moses, when
he came down from Mount Sinai, where he had been speaking to God, was ra-
diant with light. So bright was it—for it reflected the splendor of God — that the Is-
raelites were afraid to go near him.

St Paul here refers to that event to show the superiority of the New Covenant.

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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: Matthew 5:17-19

Jesus and His Teaching, the Fulfillment of the Law

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [17] “Think not that I have come to abolish the law
and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. [18] For tru-
ly I say to you, till Heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass
from the law until all is accomplished. [19] Whoever then relaxes one of the least
of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the King-
dom of Heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in
the Kingdom of Heaven.”

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Commentary:

17-19. In this passage Jesus stresses the perennial value of the Old Testament.
It is the word of God; because it has a divine authority it deserves total respect.
The Old Law enjoined precepts of a moral, legal and liturgical type. Its moral pre-
cepts still hold good in the New Testament because they are for the most part
specific divine-positive promulgations of the natural law. However, our Lord gives
them greater weight and meaning. But the legal and liturgical precepts of the Old
Law were laid down by God for a specific stage in salvation history, that is, up to
the coming of Christ; Christians are not obliged to observe them (cf. “Summa
Theologiae”, I-II, q. 108, a. 3 ad 3).

The law promulgated through Moses and explained by the prophets was God’s
gift to His people, a kind of anticipation of the definitive Law which the Christ or
Messiah would lay down. Thus, as the Council of Trent defined, Jesus not only
“was given to men as a redeemer in whom they are to trust, but also as a law-
giver whom they are to obey” (”De Iustificatione”, can. 21).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

2 Corinthians 3:4-11 ©

Before God, we are confident of this through Christ: not that we are qualified in ourselves to claim anything as our own work: all our qualifications come from God. He is the one who has given us the qualifications to be the administrators of this new covenant, which is not a covenant of written letters but of the Spirit: the written letters bring death, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the administering of death, in the written letters engraved on stones, was accompanied by such a brightness that the Israelites could not bear looking at the face of Moses, though it was a brightness that faded, then how much greater will be the brightness that surrounds the administering of the Spirit! For if there was any splendour in administering condemnation, there must be very much greater splendour in administering justification. In fact, compared with this greater splendour, the thing that used to have such splendour now seems to have none; and if what was so temporary had any splendour, there must be much more in what is going to last for ever.

Psalm

Psalm 98:5-9 ©