Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 18-September-2024

Universalis/Jerusalem Bible ^

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18 September 2024

Wednesday of week 24 in Ordinary Time



Basilica of St. Joseph of Cupertino – Osimo, Italy

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II).

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First reading

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

The supremacy of charity

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.

  If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

  Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

  Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge – for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

  In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

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Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 32(33):2-5,12,22

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp,

  with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.

O sing him a song that is new,

  play loudly, with all your skill.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

For the word of the Lord is faithful

  and all his works to be trusted.

The Lord loves justice and right

  and fills the earth with his love.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

They are happy, whose God is the Lord,

  the people he has chosen as his own.

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

  as we place all our hope in you.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

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Gospel Acclamation	cf.1Th2:13

Alleluia, alleluia!

Accept God’s message for what it really is:

God’s message, and not some human thinking.

Alleluia!

Or:	cf.Jn6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

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Gospel	Luke 7:31-35

'We played the pipes, and you wouldn't dance'

Jesus said to the people:

  ‘What description can I find for the men of this generation? What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market-place:

‘“We played the pipes for you,

and you wouldn’t dance;

we sang dirges,

and you wouldn’t cry.”

‘For John the Baptist comes, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, “He is possessed.” The Son of Man comes, eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Yet Wisdom has been proved right by all her children.’

Christian Art

Each day, The Christian Art website gives a picture and reflection on the Gospel of the day.

The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, are available in the Universalis apps, programs and downloads.

You can also view this page with the Gospel in Greek and English.

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For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

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KEYWORDS: catholic; lk7; ordinarytime; prayer

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Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 7
31.	And the Lord said: Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?	Ait autem Dominus : Cui ergo similes dicam homines generationis hujus ? et cui similes sunt ?	τινι ουν ομοιωσω τους ανθρωπους της γενεας ταυτης και τινι εισιν ομοιοι
32.	They are like to children sitting in the marketplace, and speaking one to another, and saying: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have mourned, and you have not wept.	Similes sunt pueris sedentibus in foro, et loquentibus ad invicem, et dicentibus : Cantavimus vobis tibiis, et non saltastis : lamentavimus, et non plorastis.	ομοιοι εισιν παιδιοις τοις εν αγορα καθημενοις και προσφωνουσιν αλληλοις και λεγουσιν ηυλησαμεν υμιν και ουκ ωρχησασθε εθρηνησαμεν υμιν και ουκ εκλαυσατε
33.	For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say: He hath a devil.	Venit enim Joannes Baptista, neque manducans panem, neque bibens vinum, et dicitis : Dæmonium habet.	εληλυθεν γαρ ιωαννης ο βαπτιστης μητε αρτον εσθιων μητε οινον πινων και λεγετε δαιμονιον εχει
34.	The Son of man is come eating and drinking: and you say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners.	Venit Filius hominis manducans, et bibens, et dicitis : Ecce homo devorator, et bibens vinum, amicus publicanorum et peccatorum.	εληλυθεν ο υιος του ανθρωπου εσθιων και πινων και λεγετε ιδου ανθρωπος φαγος και οινοποτης φιλος τελωνων και αμαρτωλων
35.	And wisdom is justified by all her children.	Et justificata est sapientia ab omnibus filiis suis.	και εδικαιωθη η σοφια απο των τεκνων αυτης παντων

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Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

7:29–35

29. And all the people that heard him, and the Publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

30. But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

31. And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?

32. They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.

33. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.

34. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of Publicans and sinners!

35. But wisdom is justified of all her children.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 37. in Matt.) Having declared the praises of John, he next exposes the great fault of the Pharisees and lawyers, who would not after the publicans receive the baptism of John. Hence it is said, And all the people that heard him, and the Publicans, justified God.

AMBROSE. God is justified by baptism, wherein men justify themselves confessing their sins. For he that sins and confesses his sin unto God, justifies God, submitting himself to Him who overcometh, and hoping for grace from Him; God therefore is justified by baptism, in which there is confession and pardon of sin.

EUSEBIUS. Because also they believed, they justified God, for He appeared just to them in all that He did. But the disobedient conduct of the Pharisees in not receiving John, accorded not with the words of the prophet, That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest. (Ps. 51:4.) Hence it follows, But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God, &c.

BEDE. These words were spoken either in the person of the Evangelist, or, as some think, of the Saviour; but when he says, against themselves, he means that he who rejects the grace of God, does it against himself. Or, they are blamed as foolish and ungrateful for being unwilling to receive the counsel of God, sent to themselves. The counsel then is of God, because He ordained salvation by the passion and death of Christ, which the Pharisees and lawyers despised.

AMBROSE. Let us not then despise (as the Pharisees did) the counsel of God, which is in the baptism of John, that is, the counsel which the Angel of great counsel searches out. (Is. 9:6. LXX.) No one despises the counsel of man. Who then shall reject the counsel of God?

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. There was a certain play among the Jewish children of this kind. A company of boys were collected together, who, mocking the sudden changes in the affairs of this life, some of them sang, some mourned, but the mourners did not rejoice with those that rejoiced, nor did those who rejoiced fall in with those that wept. They then rebuked each other in turn with the charge of want of sympathy. That such were the feelings of the Jewish people and their rulers, Christ implied in the following words, spoken in the person of Christ; Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like? They are like to children sitting in the market-place.

BEDE. The Jewish generation is compared to children, because formerly they had prophets for their teachers, of whom it is said, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise.

AMBROSE. But the prophets sung, repeating in spiritual strains their oracles of the common salvation; they wept, soothing with mournful dirges the hard hearts of the Jews. The songs were not sung in the market-place, nor in the streets, but in Jerusalem. For that is the Lord’s forum, in which the laws of His heavenly precepts are framed.

GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Hom. 6. in Eccl.) But singing and lamentation are nothing else but the breaking forth, the one indeed of joy, the other of sorrow. Now at the sound of a tune played upon a musical instrument, man by the concordant beating of his feet, and motion of his body, pourtrays his inward feelings. Hence he says, We have sung, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.

AUGUSTINE. (de Quæst. Ev. l. ii. q. 11.) Now these words have reference to John and Christ. For when he says, We have mourned, and ye have not wept, it is in allusion to John, whose abstinence from meat and drink signified penitential sorrow; and hence he adds in explanation, For John came neither eating bread, nor drinking wine, and ye say he hath a devil.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. They take upon themselves to slander a man worthy of all admiration. They say that he who mortifies the law of sin which is in his members hath a devil.

AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) But his words, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced, refer to the Lord Himself, who by using meats and drinks as others did, represented the joy of His kingdom. Hence it follows, The Son of man came eating and drinking, &c.

TITUS BOSTRENSIS. For Christ would not abstain from this food, lest He should give a handle to heretics, who say that the creatures of God are bad, and blame flesh and wine.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But where could they point out the Lord as gluttonous? For Christ is found every where repressing excess, and leading men to temperance. But He associated with publicans and sinners. Hence they said against Him, He is a friend of Publicans and sinners, though He could in no wise fall into sin, but on the contrary was to them the cause of salvation. For the sun is not polluted though sending its rays over all the earth, and frequently falling upon unclean bodies. Neither will the Sun of righteousness be hurt by associating with the bad. But let no one attempt to place his own condition on a level with Christ’s greatness, but let each considering his own infirmity avoid having dealing with such men, for “evil communications corrupt good manners.” It follows, And wisdom is justified of all her children.

AMBROSE. The Son of God is wisdom, by nature, not by growth, which is justified by baptism, when it is not rejected through obstinacy, but through righteousness is acknowledged the gift of God. Herein then is the justification of God, if he seems to transfer His gifts not to the unworthy and guilty, but to those who are through baptism holy and just.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. in Ps. 108.) But by the children of wisdom, He means the wise. For Scripture is accustomed to indicate the bad rather by their sin than their name, but to call the good the children of the virtue which characterizes them.

AMBROSE. He well says, of all, for justice is reserved for all, that the faithful may be taken up, the unbelievers cast out.

AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Or, when he says, wisdom is justified of all her children, he shews that the children of wisdom understand that righteousness consists neither in abstaining from nor eating food, but in patiently enduring want. For not the use of such things, but the coveting after them, must be blamed; only let a man adapt himself to the kind of food of those with whom he lives.

Catena Aurea Luke 7

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The sermon of Saint John the Baptist

Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

1566

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Saint of the Day for September 18

(June 17, 1603 – September 18, 1663)

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Saint Joseph of Cupertino’s Story

Joseph of Cupertino is most famous for levitating at prayer. Already as a child, Joseph showed a fondness for prayer. After a short career with the Capuchins, he joined the Conventual Franciscans. Following a brief assignment caring for the friary mule, Joseph began his studies for the priesthood. Though studies were very difficult for him, Joseph gained a great deal of knowledge from prayer. He was ordained in 1628.

Joseph’s tendency to levitate during prayer was sometimes a cross; some people came to see this much as they might have gone to a circus sideshow. Joseph’s gift led him to be humble, patient, and obedient, even though at times he was greatly tempted and felt forsaken by God. He fasted and wore iron chains for much of his life.

The friars transferred Joseph several times for his own good and for the good of the rest of the community. He was reported to and investigated by the Inquisition; the examiners exonerated him.

Joseph was canonized in 1767. In the investigation preceding the canonization, 70 incidents of levitation are recorded.

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Reflection

While levitation is an extraordinary sign of holiness, Joseph is also remembered for the ordinary signs he showed. He prayed even in times of inner darkness, and he lived out the Sermon on the Mount. He used his “unique possession”–his free will–to praise God and to serve God’s creation.

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Saint Joseph of Cupertino is the Patron Saint of:

Air Travelers
Astronauts
Pilots

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franciscanmedia.org

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[fidelis]

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

First Reading:

From: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
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[31] But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you still a more excellent way.

Hymn to Charity
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[1] If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. [3] If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. [4] Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; [5] it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

[8] Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. [9] For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. [11] When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. [12] For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. [13] So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

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Commentary:

31. "Earnestly desire the higher gifts": according to some Greek manuscripts this can be translated "earnestly seek the greater gifts." St Paul is encouraging his Christians to put greater value on those gifts of the Holy Spirit which contribute most to the goal of the Church than on those which are spectacular. He probably has in mind the teaching he will develop (chap. 14) about the superiority of graces and charisms to do with teaching and catechesis.

"A still more excellent way": this undoubtedly refers to charity, which he goes on to describe and praise (chap. 13). Therefore, what is called his "hymn to charity" is not a digression, much less a later addition, but an outpouring of the Apostle's soul, which perfectly explains why charity is the greatest of all gifts, a sure route to holiness and salvation, and the identifying mark of the Christian: "the first and most necessary gift is charity, by which we love God above all things and our neighbor because of him. [...] This is because love, as the bond of perfection and fullness of the law (cf. Col 3:14, Rom. 13:10), governs, gives meaning to, and perfects all the means of sanctification. Hence the true disciple of Christ is marked by love both of God and of his neighbor" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 42).

1-13. This wonderful hymn to charity is one of the most beautiful pages in Pauline writing. The literary style of the chapter is designed to present charity in all its splendor. St Paul sings the praises of love as seen from three points of view--the superiority and absolute need of this gift (vv. 1-3); its features and practical expression (vv. 4-7); and the fact it endures for ever (vv. 8-13).

Love, the charity of which St Paul is speaking, has nothing to do with selfish desire for physical passionate possession; nor is it restricted to mere philanthropy, whose motivation is purely humanitarian: charity is a love which is to be found in the new order of things established by Christ; its origin, context and purpose are radically new; it is born of the love of God for men, a love so intense that he sacrificed his only-begotten Son (In 3:16). The Christian is enabled to respond to this love of God by this gift of the Holy Spirit, charity (cf. Gal 5:22; Rom 15:30), and by virtue of this divine love he discovers God in his neighbor: he recognizes that all are children of the one Father and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ: "Our love is not to be confused with sentimentality or mere good fellowship, nor with that somewhat questionable zeal to help others in order to convince ourselves of our superiority. Rather, it means living in peace with our neighbor, venerating the image of God that is found in each and every person and doing all we can to get them in their turn to contemplate that image and learn to turn to Christ" (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 230).

To make this clear St Paul mentions those gifts which appear to be most exceptional--the gift of tongues; knowledge; and heroic actions.

Firstly, the gift of tongues. St Thomas Aquinas comments that the Apostle "rightly compares words lacking in charity to the sound of lifeless instruments, to the sound of a bell or cymbals, whose sound though clear is a dead sound. The same occurs in the speech of someone who has no charity; no matter how brilliant it be, it comes across as something dead, because it is of no help as far as meriting eternal life is concerned" ("Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc."). By way of emphasis St Paul speaks of the tongues of angels as the highest degree of the gift of tongues.

"I am nothing": this conclusion could not be more emphatic. A little further on (1 Cor 15:10), St Paul will himself say that "by the grace of God I am what I am", to make us see that from God's love for man (grace) derives man's love for God and for his neighbor for God's sake (charity).

Knowledge and faith, which need not ever be separated, also acquire their full meaning in the Christian who lives by love: "Each one according to his own gifts and duties must steadfastly advance along the way of a living faith, which arouses hope and works through love" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 41).

Strictly speaking, martyrdom is the supreme act of love. St Paul is referring here as in the previous points to hypothetical cases or merely external gestures, which seem to be token detachment and generosity, but are in fact mere appearances: "If someone does not have charity", St Augustine says, "even though he may have these gifts at the moment, they will be taken away from him. What he has will be taken away because he is missing the main thing, that whereby he will have everything and which will keep him safe [...]. He has the power to possess, but he has no charity in what he does; and because he lacks charity, what he has in his possession will be taken from him" ("Enarrationes in Psalmos", 146, 10).

4-7. In his listing of the qualities of charity, St Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, begins with two general features—patience and kindness--which the Bible attributes to God. Both of these lead on to thirteen particular ways in which love expresses itself.

Patience is a quality often praised in the Bible: in the Psalms God is said to be slow to anger (Ps 145:8); patience means great serenity in the face of injury; kindness has to do with being inclined to do good to others. St Thomas Aquinas explains this by starting with the etymology of the word: "Kindness ["benignitas", benignity] is like good fuel ["bona igneitas"]: just as fire causes solid substances to become liquid and start to melt, charity sees to it that a person does not keep his things for himself but distributes them to others" ("Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc."). Since to charity are attributed qualities which in the first instance apply to God, we can see the excellence of this virtue: "Charity towards our neighbor is an expression of our love of God. Accordingly, when we strive to grow in this virtue, we cannot fix any limits to our growth. The only possible measure for the love of God is to love without measure: on the one hand, because we will never be able to thank him enough for what he has done for us; and on the other, because this is exactly what God's own love for us, his creatures, is like: it overflows without calculation or limit" (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 232).

"Love is patient", St Gregory the Great comments, "because it bears serenely the injury it suffers. It is kind, because it repays evil with good. It is not jealous, because it covets nothing in this world: it does not know what it is to envy worldly prosperity. It is not boastful, because it yearns only for spiritual reward and it is not carried away by external things. It is not arrogant, because it thrives only on the love of God and neighbor and avoids whatever would take it from the path of righteousness. It is not covetous, because although it ardently pursues its own spiritual goals, it does not desire the goods of others. It does not insist on its own way, because it scorns as alien those things it temporarily possesses here below: it seeks to hold on only to what is enduring. It is not irritable, and even though injuries seek to provoke it, it does not let itself have any desire for vengeance, for no matter how difficult a time it may have in this life, it hopes for greater rewards in the next. It is not resentful, because it has invested its thought in the love of purity, and having rooted out all hatred it is incapable of harboring in its heart any type of aversion. It does not rejoice at wrong, because it feels affection for others and does not rejoice at seeing the ruin of its enemies. It rejoices in the right, because by loving others as it loves itself, it is as pleased to see goodness in them as if it were indeed something to its own personal advantage" ("Moralia", X, 7-8, 10).

7. The repetition of the word "all" reinforces the absolute, essential, value of charity. This is not hyperbole, much less a depiction of utopia: it is recognition of the fact, as the Word of God confirms, that love lies at the very source of all Christian virtue. "Since we are all children of God," the founder of Opus Dei reminds us, "our fraternity is not a cliché or an empty dream; it beckons as a goal which, though difficult, is really ours to achieve.

"As Christians we must show that affection of this kind is in fact possible, whatever cynics, skeptics, those disappointed in love or those with a cowardly outlook on life might say. It may be quite difficult to be truly affectionate, for man was created free and he can rebel against God in a useless and bitter way. But it is possible and people can attain it, because it flows as a necessary consequence of God's love for us and our love for God. If you and I want it, Jesus also wants it. Then we will obtain a full and fruitful understanding of the meaning of suffering, sacrifice and unselfish dedication in ordinary life" ("Friends of God", 233).

8-13. Love is enduring; it will never disappear. In this sense it is greater than all God's other gifts to man; each of those gifts is designed to help man reach perfection and eternal beatitude; charity, on the other hand, is beatitude, blessedness, itself. A thing is imperfect, St Thomas comments, for one of two reasons either because it contains certain defects, or because it will later be superseded. In this second sense knowledge of God and prophecy are overtaken by seeing God face to face. "Charity, on the other hand, which is love of God, does not disappear but, rather, increases; the more perfect one's knowledge of God, the more perfectly does one love him" (St Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.").

St Paul is constantly reminding us to pursue the goal of charity, the bond of perfection (cf. Col. 3:14). Following his example the saints teach the same message; St Teresa of Avila puts it in this way: "I only want you to be warned that, if you would progress a long way on this road and ascend to the mansions that we desire, it is not a matter of thinking much, but of loving much; do, then, whatever most arouses you to love. Perhaps we do not know what it is to love; that would not greatly surprise me; for love consists, not in what most pleases us, but in the strength of our determination to desire to please God in everything and to endeavor to do everything we can not to offend him, and to pray him ever to advance the honor and glory of his Son and the growth of the catholic Church" ("Interior Castle", IV, 1, 7).

11-12. "Then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood": the Old Testament usually avoids mentioning God by name; these words in effect mean "Then I will know God as he knows me." The knowledge which God has of men is not merely speculative: it involves an intimate, personal union which embraces a person's mind and will and all his or her noble aspirations. Thus in Sacred Scripture God is said to know someone when he shows a preferential love for him (1 Cor 8:3), particularly when he chooses him out to be a Christian (Gal 4:8).

Happiness in heaven consists in this direct knowledge of God. To explain this better St Paul uses the simile of the mirror: in those times mirrors were made of metal and produced a reflection which was blurred and dark; but it is still easy for us to understand what St Paul means; as St Thomas explains, in heaven "we shall see God face to face, because we shall see him directly, just as we see a man face to face. And by seeing in this way we become very like God, becoming sharers in his beatitude: for God has knowledge of his own substance in its very essence and therein his happiness lies. Therefore does St John (1 Jn 3:2) write: 'When he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is"' ("Summa Contra Gentiles", III, 51).

In this connection the Church's Magisterium teaches that "in the usual providence of God, the souls of all the saints who departed this world [...] see the divine essence with an intuitive and even face-to-face vision, without the interposition of any creature in the function of object seen; rather, the divine essence immediately manifests itself to them plainly, clearly, openly [...]. We also define that those who see the divine essence in this way take great joy from it, and that because of this vision and enjoyment the souls of those who have already died are truly blessed and possess life and eternal rest" (Benedict XII, "Benedictus Deas, Dz-Sch", I000f).

13. Faith, hope and charity are the most important virtues in the Christian life. They are called "theological" virtues, "because they have God as their direct and principal object" ("St Pius X Catechism", 85 9), and it is he himself who infuses them into the soul together with sanctifying grace (cf. ibid., 861).

When discussing the superiority of charity over faith and hope, St Thomas Aquinas says that the greatest of these virtues is that which most directly unites one to good: "Faith and hope attain God in so far as we derive from him the knowledge of truth or the acquisition of good; whereas charity attains God himself that it may rest in him not that something else should come to us from him" ("Summa Theologiae", II-II, q. 23, a.6).

[fidelis]

Gospel Reading:

From: Luke 7:31-35

Jesus Reproaches His Contemporaries
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[31] (Jesus spoke to the crowds), “Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? [32] They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
[33] For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, `He has a demon.' [34] The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' [35] Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."

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Commentary:

31-34. See the note on Matthew 11:16-19.

[The note on Matthew 11:16-19 states: 16-19. Making reference to a popular song or a child's game of His time, Jesus reproaches those who offer groundless excuses for not recognizing Him. From the beginning of human history the Lord has striven to attract all men to Himself: "What more was there to do for My vineyard, that I have not done in it?" (Isaiah 5:4), and often He has been rejected: "When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?" (Isaiah 5:4).

Our Lord also condemns calumny: some people do try to justify their own behavior by seeing sin where there is only virtue. "When they find something which is quite obviously good," St. Gregory the Great says, "they pry into it to see if there is not also some badness hidden in it" ("Moralia", 6, 22). The Baptist's fasting they interpret as the work of the devil; whereas they accuse Jesus of being a glutton. The evangelist has to report these calumnies and accusations spoken against our Lord; otherwise, we would have no notion of the extent of the malice of those who show such furious opposition to Him who went about doing good (Acts 10:38). On other occasions Jesus warned His disciples that they would be treated the same as He was (cf. John 15:20).

The works of Jesus and John the Baptist, each in their own way, lead to the accomplishment of God's plan for man's salvation: the fact that some people do not recognize Him does not prevent God's plan being carried into effect. ]

35. The wisdom referred to here is divine Wisdom, especially Christ Himself (cf. Wisdom 7:26; Proverbs 8:22). "Children of Wisdom" is a Hebrew way of saying "wise men"; he is truly wise who comes to know God and love Him and be saved by Him--in other words, a saint.

Divine wisdom is revealed in the creation and government of the universe, and, particularly, in the salvation of mankind. Wise men "justifying" wisdom seems to mean the wise, the saints, bear witness to Christ by living holy lives: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

[fidelis]

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