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From: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

He Calls for Holiness and Purity

[1] Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you
learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing,
you do so more and more. [2] For you know what instructions we gave you
through the Lord Jesus. [3] For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that
you abstain from immorality; [4] that each one of you know how to control his
own body in holiness and honor, [5] not in the passion of lust like heathen who
do not know God; [6] that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in this mat-
ters because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we solemnly fore-
warned you. [7] For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness. [8]
Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his
Holy Spirit to you.

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Commentary:

1. St Paul encourages the Thessalonians “in the Lord Jesus” to follow his advice:
he does not make this plea in his own name or using his personal influence but
in the name of the Lord Jesus. Those who have positions of authority in the
Church should be obeyed, above all, for supernatural reasons (that is what God
desires) and not for any personal qualities they happen to have or simply be-
cause they are “superiors”. It is this outlook which causes St Ignatius Loyola to
say that “laying aside all private judgment, we ought to keep our minds prepared
and ready to obey in all things the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our
Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church” (”Spiritual Exercises”, 353).

The Thessalonians already knew the commandments, but knowing them is not
enough; they must be put into practice. St John Chrysostom comments: “Good
land does something more than give back the grain put into it; and therefore the
soul should not limit itself to doing what is laid down, but should go further [...].
Two things make for virtue — avoiding evil and doing good. Fleeing from evil is not
the be-all of virtue; it is the beginning of the path that leads to virtue. One needs,
in addition, to have an ardent desire to be good and to do good” (”Hom. on 1
Thess, ad loc.”).

3. What the Apostle says here reflects our Lord’s teaching in the Sermon on the
Mount: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:
48). The call to holiness is a universal one: it is not addressed only to a few, but
to everyone: “Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed
as ‘alone holy’, loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to
sanctify her (cf. Eph 5:25-26); he joined her to himself as his body and endowed
her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. Therefore all in the Church,
whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it, are called to holiness,
according to the Apostle’s saying: ‘For this is the will of God, your sanctification’
(1 Thess 4:3; cf. Eph 1:4)” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 39).

In the Old Testament holiness is the highest attribute of God. He is holy, and he
asks men to be holy, pointing out that the model and cause of man’s holiness is
the holiness of God: “You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev
19:3).

The universal call to holiness was the core of the teaching of the founder of Opus
Dei; it was a message he preached constantly from l928 up to his death in 1975:
“We are deeply moved, and our hearts profoundly shaken, when we listen atten-
tively to that cry of St Paul: ‘This is the will of God, your sanctification’ [...]. He
calls each and every one to holiness; he asks each and every one to love him —
young and old, single and married, healthy and sick, learned and unlearned, no
matter where they work, or where they are” (”Friends of God”, 294).

“Christ’s invitation to holiness, which he addresses to all men without exception,
puts each one of us under an obligation to cultivate our interior life and to struggle
daily to practise the Christian virtues; and not just in any old way, nor in a way
which is above average or even excellent. No; we must strive to the point of he-
roism in the strictest and most exacting sense of the word” (”ibid.”, 3).

4-8. Man “is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since
God has created it and will raise it up on the last day [...]. His very dignity there-
fore requires that he should glorify God in his body (cf. 1 Cor 6:13-20) and not
allow to serve the evil inclinations of his heart” (Vatican II, (”Gaudium Et Spes”,
14).

“Immorality” (v. 3): the word used would be translated as “fornication”, were the
style classical Greek; however, by St Paul’s time the word had come to refer to
any kind of sexual practice outside marriage or not in accordance with the aims
of marriage. The word translated as “body” literally means “vessel” and it can re-
fer either to one’s body or to one’s own wife. If “wife” is meant, then the passage
should be taken as an exhortation to married fidelity and to proper use of marri-
age. Whichever meaning is correct, the sacred text is saying that God calls us
to exercise self-control in holiness and honor; that means that one’s body and
its functions should be used in the way God means them to be used. The Lord
of life has entrusted to men and women the mission to preserve life and to trans-
mit it in a manner in keeping with human dignity. “Man’s sexuality and the facul-
ty of reproduction wondrously surpass the endowments of lower forms of life;
therefore the acts proper to married life are to be ordered according to authentic
human dignity and must be honored with the greatest reverence” (”Gaudium Et
Spes”, 51).

“Therefore,” St. Escriva comments, “when I remind you now that Christians must
keep perfect chastity, I am referring to everyone — to the unmarried, who must
practise complete continence; and to those who are married who practise chas-
tity by fulfilling the duties of their state in life. If one has the spirit of God, chastity
is not a troublesome and humiliating burden, but a joyful affirmation. Will-power,
dominion, self-mastery do not come from the flesh or from instinct. They come
from the will, especially if it is united to the Will of God. In order to be chaste (and
not merely continent or decent) we must subject our passions to reason, but for
a noble motive, namely, the promptings of Love” (”Friends of God”, 177).

In addition to giving reasons for practising the virtue of chastity, the Apostle warns
that God will punish those who commit sins against this virtue. “These crimes
we are commenting on”, says St John Chrysostom, “will in no way be overlooked.
The enjoyment they give us is quite outweighed by the pain and suffering their pu-
nishment earns” (”Hom. on 1 Thess, ad loc.”).

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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 25:1-13

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Maidens

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [1] “Then the Kingdom of Heaven shall be compared
to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. [2] Five of
them were foolish, and five were wise. [3] For when the foolish took their lamps,
they took no oil with them; [4] but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. [5]
As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. [6] But at midnight
there was a cry, ‘Behold the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ [7] Then all those
maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. [8] And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give
us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ [9] But the wise replied, ‘Per-
haps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy
for yourselves.’ [10] And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those
who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut. [11]
Afterwards the other maidens came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ [12] But
he replied, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ [13] Watch therefore, for you
know neither the day nor the hour.”

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Commentary:

1-46. The whole of chapter 25 is a practical application of the teaching contained
in chapter 24. With these parables of the wise and foolish virgins and of the ta-
lents, and His teaching on the Last Judgment, our Lord is again emphasizing the
need for vigilance (cf. note on Matthew 24:42). In this sense, chapter 25 makes
chapter 24 more intelligible.

1-13. The main lesson of this parable has to do with the need to be on the alert:
in practice, this means having the light of faith, which is kept alive with the oil of
charity. Jewish weddings were held in the house of the bride’s father. The virgins
are young unmarried girls, bridesmaids who are in the bride’s house waiting for
the bridegroom to arrive. The parable centers on the attitude one should adopt
up to the time when the bridegroom comes. In other words, it is not enough to
know that one is “inside” the Kingdom, the Church: one has to be on the watch
and be preparing for Christ’s coming by doing good works.

This vigilance should be continuous and unflagging, because the devil is forever
after us, prowling around “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pe-
ter 5:8). “Watch with the heart, watch with faith, watch with love, watch with cha-
rity, watch with good works [...]; make ready the lamps, make sure they do not
go out [...], renew them with the inner oil of an upright conscience; then shall the
Bridegroom enfold you in the embrace of His love and bring you into His banquet
room, where your lamp can never be extinguished” (St. Augustine, “Sermon”,
93).

*********************************************************************************************
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.

Readings at Mass

First reading
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ©

Brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.

What God wants is for you all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from fornication, and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans who do not know God. He wants nobody at all ever to sin by taking advantage of a brother in these matters; the Lord always punishes sins of that sort, as we told you before and assured you. We have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Psalm
Psalm 96:1-2,5-6,10-12 ©