Wednesday in the 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, September 1, 2021

Luke 4:38-44

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.  At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.  At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

“After Jesus left the synagogue.”  St. Luke presents the most likely sequence of events at the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry: after his baptism by John in the Jordan, he is tempted in the wilderness.  Coming out of the wilderness, “Jesus returned in the power of the spirit, into Galilee: and the fame of him went out through the whole country.  And he taught in their synagogues and was magnified by all” (Luke 4, 14-15).  And then he came to Nazareth and was rejected by his former neighbors there.  After this rejection, he moved on to Capernaum, called his first Apostles, cast out the demon from the possessed man in the synagogue, and now goes into Simon and Andrew’s house.  St. Matthew mentions that Jesus left Nazareth and came to Capernaum (cf. Matthew 4, 13) but tells the story of his rejection there further on in his Gospel (cf. Matthew 13, 54-58).   

“Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever.”  It is unknown whether Simon Peter and Andrew knew before they entered the house that the mother-in-law was suffering from illness.  But when they and Jesus, and, presumably, James and John, came inside the house, “they interceded with him about her”.  A high fever in ancient times often meant the imminence of death.  Peter’s wife may not have known Jesus and so there confusion would have reigned between the frantic wife, the dying woman, and the Apostles attempting to instill calm and introduce the Lord, as well as pleading with him to cure the older woman.  Jesus alone remained quiet in the midst of this, his gaze upon the her on her bed.  “He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it [the fever] left her.”  Let us note the utter dispassion of Luke’s account.  In a very cool, matter-of-fact fashion, he tells us that Jesus healed the woman.  He saved her life.  And then, just as cooly, Luke tells us that “She got up immediately and waited on them.”  One moment she lay at death’s door, and the next she went about helping with dinner as though she had not been sick at all.  The woman did not merely recover; she was granted her health back immediately.  The Lord had administered no potions, spoke hardly a word, and had healed her.  Any neighbors in the house at that time would have run out of the house, astounded, and spread the news.  The Lord, for his part, made no speeches or explanations after the healing.  The Apostles saw in him no sign that he had done anything so extraordinary.  Perhaps he and the stunned Apostles sat in silence together as the meal was prepared.

“At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him.”  In third world countries today, even a rumor that a doctor has arrived in a particular village brings out people from miles away who have nursed injuries and borne sickness for a long time.  They come across the fields and roads, desperately seeking relief.  From Capernaum the news had spread that a healer had arrived.  He had cast out a demon in the synagogue and cured without delay a woman sick unto death.  Those who could walk, walked.  Those who could not, were carried.  They waited until sunset to set out so as not to break the Sabbath.

“He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.”  One day, we hope to feel the Lord Jesus’s hands upon us as he greets us in heaven.  We can try to imagine what that will feel like, to have the hands of God upon us.  These sick and injured felt his hands upon them and felt the power which healed them and made them whole. Even the demons fled in terror from him.  Everyone who came to him was healed.  He turned no one away.  

“At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.”  Luke does not tell us how many hours the Lord spent healing people.  At some point the last person needing healing departed and the crowd drifted away, and perhaps the Lord went back to Peter’s house and slept a little.  But he was up at daybreak to pray: “At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.”  We ought to marvel at how little sleep the Lord got during his public life.  The Apostles, too, slept little, but more than he.  It was as though he was aware that his time was running out, and still so many villages to visit and crowds to preach to.  The Apostles and the crowd, discovering he had left the house, went looking for him.  They wanted him to stay.  Together with their amazement at his the miracles, they felt drawn to his person who filled them with hope, and who spoke of the arrival of the Kingdom of God.  They said to one another, “No one has ever spoken as this man has” (cf. John 7, 46).

“To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.”  The Lord tells them this without the hint of apology or softening.  And as he has done in Capernaum, so will he do in towns and villages throughout Galilee and Judea.  And having spoken to the crowd, he gathered his Apostles and moved on.

We should be aware of the contrasts in Luke’s account here.  The almost silent Jesus performing incredible cures and exorcisms.  He is set apart even in the midst of the crowds by his quiet, authoritative demeanor, by his simple gestures.  Around him surges a crowd of the diseased, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the deformed, those suffering from great pain, the howling demoniacs, and those who came only to watch.  So much disorder around him.  It is the same Lord who will sleep in Peter’s boat during the raging storm, the same Lord who will walk on the billowing sea, the same Lord who hung on the Cross on Calvary, assailed by the mockery of the priests, Pharisees, and scribes: “He opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53, 7).

 Tuesday in the 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, August 31, 2021

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11

Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. When people are saying, “Peace and security,” then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober. For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.

St. Paul continues to speak to the Thessalonians about the last day, when the Lord Jesus will return.  “Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.”  Although these Gentile Christians still struggle with the meaning of the Resurrection of the Dead, Paul feels certain that they do grasp the doctrine of the uncertainty of the time of the Lord’s coming, which will initiate this Resurrection.  The Lord himself emphasized to his Apostles that no one would know beforehand the time of his arrival, and that it would be sudden, without warning: “Then two shall be in the field. One shall be taken and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill. One shall be taken and one shall be left. Watch ye therefore, because you know not at what hour your Lord will come” (Matthew 24, 40-42).  Paul compares our Lord to “a thief at night”, which indeed the Lord says of himself: “But this know ye, that, if the owner of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open” (Matthew 24, 43), and, “Behold, I come as a thief” (Revelation 16, 15).  “When people are saying, ‘Peace and security,’ then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”  The condition of our life on earth is one of constant struggle to find food to eat, clean water to drink, and shelter against the elements.  The struggle might be with nature or with other people.  In the West, for the past century or so, we have gained the luxury of acquiring and storing food for the next day, and of taking our dwelling places for granted.  For a great part of the world this is not true, and it happened only sporadically in ancient times in the case of an abundant harvest and peace with the surrounding nations.  But this state exists temporarily, as history teaches us.  Rather than patting our stomachs and congratulating ourselves on the “peace and security” we enjoy now, we ought to thank God for what he has given us and to pray that he will sustain us the next day, too.  But we should always be ready in case there is no next day.

“For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.”  The light is truth, and the truth is the Gospel of God.  To be “children of the light and of the day we must know the Gospel of God and to know Jesus Christ.  “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief.”  Paul speaks of the darkness of ignorance, here, but there is also the darkness of sin: “We are not of the night or of darkness.”  St. John speaks of darkness in his Gospel: “And the light shines in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1, 5).  The Greek word here translated as “comprehend” also means “to seize”, and “to overtake”.  John could be saying that the darkness did not understand the light — the Lord Jesus — or that it did not seize it in order to destroy it.  When Paul says that “We are not of the night or of darkness”, he means that we do not belong to the enemies of Christ who tried and failed to seize him, or who refused to understand him.  

“Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.”  This verse is explained by the verse that follows it in the biblical text, but which for some reason is not included in the lectionary reading: “For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunk, are drunk in the night.”  Those who live in the darkness of sin — sin which not only prevents understanding but even the desire to understand — are not “alert and sober” but are “asleep” and “drunk”.  The verse following this is also not included in the lectionary reading: “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, having on the breastplate of faith and charity and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.”  That is, in the spiritual world of struggle against temptation, we must be “sober”, meaning alert and aroused lest the enemy strike us while we are unprepared.  To defend ourselves  and to advance in the spiritual life, we wear the “breastplate of faith and charity”, which protects our heart, and the “helmet of the hope of salvation”, which protects the brain.

“For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.”  From all eternity, Almighty God willed for us to be saved and when he created us, gave us free will so that we might align our wills with his, leading to our salvation.  This salvation was obtained for us by Jesus Christ after we had sinned and lost this alignment.  “So that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him.”  Here, Paul reverts back to his earlier use, at the beginning of his Letter, of sleeping and waking, that is, as the state of the dead and the state of the living.  He reasserts that all the holy ones, those who have died and those still alive at the time of the Lord’s coming “may live together with him.”  

“Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.”  The Greek verb translated here as “build up” means “to edify”.  We who share this common destiny in heaven with Christ should edify one another with virtuous words and works.  To lift our neighbor’s burden, is to edify those looking on.  To walk away from gossip, does the same.  Since we are to be “gathered together”, we need to help one another to become holy in this life, living each day as a preparation for the last day.

 Monday in the 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, August 30, 2021

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.

For the Greeks and Romans of the times, when life on earth ended, the “shade” of the deceased descended into the dreary realm of Hades.  The shades did not so much live as exist there, wandering aimlessly around in the dark domain of the underworld.  The teaching of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and his opening the gates of heaven to those who lived righteously on earth brought joy to the many Gentiles who heard St. Paul and the Apostles speak.  But while Jewish Christians had been prepared for the Resurrection by the Prophets and also apocryphal writings, for the Gentiles, this teaching came as entirely new, and even after accepting it, they had a number of questions to be answered before better understanding it.  Paul sets himself to answer them in this part of his letter to the Thessalonians, and in his next letter to them as well.

“We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep.”  The Greek word translated here as “to be unaware” is actually “to not know”, or “understand”.  Paul speaks this way in order to assure the Thessalonians that the life to come was not some mystery known only to certain initiates, as was true in some of the cults making their way through the Empire at that time.  He speaks of the Christian dead as “those who have fallen asleep”, a very different way of looking at death than the one they had been accustomed to.  “So that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.”  The Christian may rightly hope for the eternal salvation of friends and loved ones and others among the elect, while those who have rejected Christ “have no hope” because they have rejected the reason for hope.  “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”  We who grew up as Christians and were taught from childhood about the Death and Resurrection of the Lord, can have little idea how hard it must have been for Gentiles to come to believe this fundamental teaching of the Faith.  Their belief is both heroic and miraculous.

“Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.”  As we read St. Paul’s teaching here, we should be careful to keep in mind that he is answering specific questions the Thessalonians have sent him, either in a letter or orally through St. Timothy, who had just come from them.  The question Paul is answering in this verse is evidently this: When the Lord comes, will he take to heaven those living at that time ahead of those who have died?  The question perhaps indicates concern that seeing loved ones again will be postponed or even be rendered impossible.  

“For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”  That is, “the dead in Christ” will rise from their graves before the saints alive at the time of the Lord’s coming are taken to heaven.  “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”  Thus, all the saints together will be taken to heaven at one time.  We note here that Paul does not give a thorough teaching of what will happen on the last day, for the Thessalonians have already understood about the judgment Christ will come to deliver.  Paul keeps his answers specific to the questions.  “Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.”  It is, indeed, most comforting to think that we shall always be with the Lord.  We recall how he told his Apostles, just before his Ascension: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the world’ (Matthew 28, 20).  He is always with us on earth through the Holy Eucharist, the Gospels, his Church, and his grace, and in heaven he shall be with us as we gaze at him face to face. 

 The Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 29, 2021

Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. —For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.— So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.  “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

One of the great faults we possess and one of the worst consequences of original sin, is that we tend to take the sign for the reality.  We take the appearance for the thing itself.  So common is this fault that it seems inevitable in cases where decisions and judgments must be made.  We “judge the book by its cover” repeatedly, despite sorry experience.  The devil and his followers know this very well: “False apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder: for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11, 13-14).  However, “by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7, 20).

In the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, the Pharisees, blind to the meaning of purity, mandate rituals for purity that could be, at best, mere signs of the reality.  The Pharisees, believing that their rituals did in fact render them pure, ignored the actual impurity within themselves.  The ostentation of their rituals confirmed their thinking for them.  The Lord strives to correct them, pointing out the limitations of the sign and announcing the end to signs, for with the Incarnation of the Son of God, the time of the Old Law, which could do no more than command signs, had ended.  

In other places, the Lord and the Apostles praise purity.  The Lord himself declares, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5, 8).  Here, he condemns impurity and lists actions which cause a person to become truly impure, or that signify that impurity is already present in a person, out of which he performs these actions.  The Greek word translated as “unchastity” actually means fornication and, in general, sexual immorality.  The word translated as “envy” is actually two words, meaning “an evil eye”, which signifies envy along with hatred of a person for having something the envious person covets.  The sins listed by the Lord “defile” a person, he says.  That is, they do more than make the perpetrator ritually unclean: they corrupt him from within his heart, so that he is fit for nothing than damnation.

The pure of heart possess a freedom to love and to understand which those who are impure deny to themselves.  This is why only they shall see God.

 Saturday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 28, 2021

1 Thessalonians 4:9-11

Brothers and sisters: On the subject of fraternal charity you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. Indeed, you do this for all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Nevertheless we urge you, brothers and sisters, to progress even more, and to aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.

“You yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.”  Our embittered society suffers from a drought of charity.  This is evident in the continual violence among us, of such infantile behavior as name-calling and temper tantrums over the slightest discomfort, challenge, or misunderstanding.  People seem to get up in the morning ready to fight one another.  Presumption of innocence of individuals or whole groups of people has disappeared, replaced by presumptions of guilt and demands for extreme punishments.  Even the long-dead are metaphorically exhumed from their graves and tried for actions or attitudes we deem now as terrible crimes.  There is no appeal.  History is rewritten to support verdicts decided  long before the show trial.  We are living in and walking through a wasteland as terrible as any lifeless, corpse-strewn battlefield.  It seems as though we will never see any greenery again.

The way out of this wilderness is the charity of Christ.  He shows and gives love to us in its purest form.  Only the conversion of people to Christ can offer real happiness here.  It is in the bosom of Christ alone that we will find peace.  Almighty God teaches us this love through the Sacrifice of his Son and in the lives of the saints.  The Thessalonians learned love for God and neighbor from the love St. Paul showed for God and for them.  St. Paul endured his many sufferings in order to do the will of God, which included loving them.  The Thessalonians were amazed and captivated by it.  Paul burned manifestly with the love of Christ and of them.  They learned love from being loved.  “Indeed, you do this for all the brothers throughout Macedonia.”  Paul praises their charity, for it is so great that it teaches other Christians how to love each other.

“Nevertheless we urge you, brothers and sisters, to progress even more.”  The spiritual life means continually refining, reforming, and progressing.  One of the reasons for all the current hatred and violence is the failure of “progressive” politics to deliver real help for people.  In fact, there is no real “progress” in the material world.  There is a constant exchange of new things for old things, but this does not make for progress, for with every gain there is necessarily a loss.  The only real progress in our world is spiritual, in which we strive to grow to be more and more like Christ.  We do this by the grace of God.  

“Aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands.”  By doing so, we respect others as well as ourselves, and give good example to our neighbors.  This rule of St. Paul very concisely sums up civil behavior.  Who are the ones filled with anger? Those whose lives are given to greed and lust, and who have been thwarted.  Those who meddle in the affairs of others and try to control them.  Those who do not work with their own hands but expect others to do so for them.  Those who have to to be served, not to serve.

Let us love our neighbors from our hearts and to work and pray for their conversion, for the love of God.

 Friday in the 21st Week Of Ordinary Time, August 27, 2021

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God– and as you are conducting yourselves – you do so even more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality, that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion as do the Gentiles who do not know God; not to take advantage of or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, for the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you before and solemnly affirmed. For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

The lectionary translation of the First Reading for today’s Mass does not lend itself to a clear understanding and so reference will be made to the better Douay Rheims translation, where necessary.  Thus, the first verse of the Reading: “For the rest therefore, brethren, pray and beseech in the Lord Jesus that, as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.”  St. Paul begins this next part of his letter by urging the Thessalonians to pray that God might grant them the grace to put into action the moral teachings they have received from him.  He beseeches them to pray to the Father “in the Lord Jesus” in order  to underline the necessity of praying through Christ, our Mediator.  As the Lord Jesus himself said, “Hitherto, you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full.”   The Douay Rheims has, “that you may abound the more”, that is, to prosper spiritually as individuals and as a church.  Their imitation of the conduct of Christ, as taught by St. Paul, will lead many other Gentiles to him: “For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

“This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality.”  God is holy, and he desires holiness for all people.  The Greek word translated here as “immorality” literally means “prostitution” or “fornication”, but it also has the general meaning of any kind of sexual immorality, and this is what Paul means here.  “That each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor.”  The Greek word translated as “wife” actually means “vessel”, as it is translated in the Douay Rheims.  Paul uses this word in similar ways in other places, as does St. Peter in his First Letter.  In 2 Timothy 2:21, Paul uses the word in a general way to refer to a Christian: “If anyone therefore shall cleanse himself from these [iniquities], he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and profitable to the Lord, prepared unto every good work.”  From this we can understand Paul as thinking of the Christian as a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit.  Paul is counseling the Thessalonians that it is preferable to marry a fellow Christian “in holiness and honor”, and “not in lustful passion as do the Gentiles who do not know God.”  

“Not to take advantage of or exploit a brother or sister in this matter.”  In the Douay Rheims translation this phrase is treated as a separate sentence, and doing so helps us to understand Paul’s meaning, for it is not directly connected with his counsel on marriage.  This should be translated, per the Douay Rheims, as, “And that no man overreach nor circumvent his brother in business.”  Paul is now exhorting the Thessalonians for purity of conduct in their daily affairs.  “For the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you before and solemnly affirmed.”  Paul reminding them that he has  “solemnly affirmed” that God is an “avenger” of any kind of immorality emphasizes for them the grievousness of sin — a concept understood only in very narrow terms by the ancient Greeks.  For the Greeks, a person had to offend a god personally in order to bring down his wrath, as, famously, in the Judgment of Paris.  “For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.”  We should note that the Greek word translated here as “impurity” is a different word from the word translated earlier as “immorality”.  Paul uses this word to speak of any kind of sinfulness.  “Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.”  Paul reminds the Thessalonians that God had spoken to them through him, and so disobeying the commandments he has related to them is to disobey  God.  He has given them the Holy Spirit, making them his adopted children and giving them the strength to overcome all temptations.  

St. Paul speaks these words to us today.  His Letter is not merely a historical document of limited interest.  He urges each of us today to live the holy life we are most capable of because we are his vessels, filled with the Holy Spirit.

 Thursday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 26, 2021

1 Thessalonians 3:7-13

We have been reassured about you, brothers and sisters, in our every distress and affliction, through your faith. For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.  What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God? Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith. Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.

St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians from Corinth, a Greek city where he stayed for a year and a half.  St. Timothy came to him from Thessalonica and had brought him news of persecution there.  In 1 Thessalonians 2, 14-15, Paul tells them what he has heard about them: “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea; for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out.”  This persecution, then, is by the Gentiles in the city.  Paul felt anxious for these new Christians and burned with desire to go to them: “We 

endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face; because we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, again and again — but Satan hindered us” (1 Thessalonians 2, 17-18).  This reference to “Satan” may have meant unfavorable travel weather.  

Paul is very concerned to confirm the Thessalonians in their faith and so he is relieved to hear of their perseverance in the midst of their troubles.  He writes, “We have been reassured about you, brothers and sisters, in our every distress and affliction, through your faith.”  As they have suffered, so has he, as they well knew.  Yet the news of their perseverance strengthens him: “For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.”  We ought to marvel at the faith of the earliest Christians who had no written Gospels, no grand churches, no beautiful artwork, and only the word of another person to go by.  Paul himself admitted that he was no great preacher or speaker.  He had no honeyed words for them, no slick salesmanship.  And he had brought them the unlikely news that God had become man, suffered for our salvation, was killed, and rose from the dead, to return one day to judge the human race.  All the Thessalonians had was Paul, a recently beaten and stoned man of little account in terms of his appearance.

“What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?”  Paul knows how dear he is to the Thessalonians, his “children”, and he knows that his joy for them will give them joy as well.  “Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.”  Paul speaks again of his strong wish to see these people again in order to console them with his presence and also to complete their training in the Faith they had received from him, particularly in regards to the teachings on the end of the world and on the resurrection of the dead, about which he writes in his second letter to them.  

“Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.”  Paul will go to them when it is God’s will for him to do so, and he prays to God for this.  How often we wish to go to someone or to go somewhere, but how often do we ask God if this is his will?  “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts.”  May the Lord increase their faith and also their numbers, and may he grant that they “abound” in love, just as Almighty God abounds in love for all of us.  Just as he causes our “cup” to overflow, we ought to make the “cups” of others overflow (cf. Psalm 23, 5).  We can do this with the grace of God.  “To be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.”  To “abound” in love is to scorn temptations which would cause harm to ourselves and others.  Sanctity, which results from unreservedly receiving and sharing this love from God, prepares us for the coming of the Lord to judgment, attended by his saints, at the end of the world.  

 Wednesday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 25, 2021

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.

In the First Reading for today’s Mass, St. Paul recalls for the Thessalonian Christians how he worked for their conversion.  He does this in order to confirm again for them that the teaching they have received is true: it was delivered at no cost to them although it cost its deliverer much in terms of the hardship of the work.  This is convincing for them because at that time in the Roman world, the promotion of new cults was a booming business.  And it was as much a business then as the “Prosperity Gospel” movement is today.  The promoters of these cults expected to be well paid, and their appearance as successful and sophisticated people encouraged others not as successful and sophisticated to join them.

By studied contrast, Paul says to them, “You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery.”  He speaks almost as one boasting.  People would have seen such a statement as a little more than counterintuitive.  How does a doctor sell his patent medicine by talking up how badly it tastes?  “Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God.”  Paul shows his care for these people, here.  He is one of them, and making a sacrifice in order to offer them the assistance he can give.  From this we also learn how to act as missionaries to those around us.  We are like the people we want to convert, working quietly and showing our way of life as desirable without being overbearing.  We might read “We made known to you the proclamation of God” in place of “the Gospel of God” in order to get a better sense of how these people heard Paul’s teaching: this was the proclamation that God had given to Paul to give to them.  “You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers.”  The divine proclamation revealed by Paul is verified by his own behavior.  As missionaries, we must act blamelessly as well and seek to help however we can the people around us.

“We treated each one of you as a father treats his children.”  Would-be missionaries must take care lest they fall into patronizing the people we hope to convert.  Few things are more deadly to a relationship than patronizing attitudes.  Respect and care are necessary.  We act as humble servants who have ourselves received the good we wish to share.  And we must “share” it and not force it upon others.  “Exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.”  When a person makes it clear that he or she wants to learn more about this new way of life, we teach it to them in little steps.  We encourage.  When they are well on their way to conversion, we can insist on their living devoutly, but we do so carefully.  And we remind them that they are now living to make themselves “worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.”  

“And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God.”  Paul’s thanksgiving is not on his own behalf, but purely on theirs.  It is, therefore, true thanksgiving.  He gains no material benefit from their accepting the word of God as the word of God.  Paul’s Choice of Greek word for the “word” of God — logos — is the same term St. John uses in his Gospel to describe the Son of God.  We could then understand St. Paul as saying that the Thessalonians had receive the Son of God from them, as they would have through his preaching, conferring Baptism, and confecting the Holy Eucharist.

“The word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.”  Whether we understand “the word of God” as grace or as Christ himself, it or he is “at work” in the hearts, minds, and lives of believers.  The Greek word translated here as “at work” actually means “is working” , “is accomplishing” and “is operative”.  As we read in Hebrews 4, 12: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

We who are believers are called by God to be ministers of this living word, witnessing to him in our lives and able to speak of him with our lips.  In doing so, he shows his life in us to ourselves and to others so that his will might be accomplished in us, to bring us all into heaven.

 The Feast of St. Bartholomew, Tuesday, August 24, 2021

John 1:45-51

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

In the lists of the Apostles contained in the other Gospels, Bartholomew is always linked with Philip, and so from ancient times the Church has understood the names “Bartholomew” and “Nathanael” to indicate the same person.  Indeed, “Nathanael” is a typical Jewish first name, meaning, “God has given”.  At the same time, “Bartholomew” is a proper Jewish surname, meaning, “the son of Tholomai”.   He came from the town of Cana and was a friend of Philip, who was called by Jesus before him.  After hearing Jesus preach, Philip went and found Bartholomew even as Andrew had gone to tell his brother Peter about him.  We hear little of Bartholomew during the Lord’s ministry.  St. John does tell us that he joined six other Apostles in going to fish in the days after the Lord’s Resurrection and assisted in a miraculous catch of fish.  Some of the Fathers and later writers held him to be a rabbi or a philosopher.  Certain traditions tell us that he preached the Gospel in India, though he might have been confused with Thomas, who did preach there.  The Armenians claim him as well as St. Jude as having brought Christianity to them, and consider both Apostles their patrons.  According to an ancient tradition, Bartholomew was skinned alive and beheaded by a king in Armenia.

St. John tells us that after his Baptism in the Jordan, the Lord lived an acetic life near the river and that John the Baptist pointed him out as the Lamb of God.  Andrew and John spent that evening talking with him, and the next day the Lord “found” Philip, and Philip, in his own excitement, went to his friend Bartholomew and announced to him that, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”  Philip is referring to Deuteronomy 18, 15-19, where Moses says to the Hebrews, “The Lord your God will raise up to you a prophet of your nation and of your brethren like unto me: him you shall hear, as you desired of the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the assembly was gathered together, and said: Let me not hear anymore the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see anymore this exceeding great fire, lest I die. And the Lord said to me: They have spoken all things well.  I will raise them up a prophet out of the midst of their brethren like to you: and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. And he that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in my name, I will be the avenger.”

Bartholomew famously asked Philip the rhetorical question, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  Not that Cana had any greater importance than Nazareth.  This reminds us of how the chief priests said later, “Search the Scriptures and see that the Prophet does not arise out of Galilee” (John 7, 52).  But Philip is insistent and so Bartholomew goes to see for himself.

“Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.”  The Greek word here translated as “duplicity” has the meaning of “treachery” and “deceit”.  The Lord may have spoken ironically here, for the original “Israel” — the name given by an angel to Jacob, the son of Isaac — was deceitful in gaining the blessing of his father.  This would be in answer to, “Can any thing good come from Nazareth.”  Bartholomew would have gotten the Lord’s point, but he challenges him further: “How do you know me?”  The Greek verb here means “to know” in the sense of “to discern”, “to make a judgment”, and “to perceive”.  This may be Bartholomew’s come-back to the Lord’s observation, that he is a true Israelite.  To this, the Lord answers, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”  This astounds Bartholomew as well as tops the exchange.  While it was true that he had been sitting under the fig tree when Philip called him, presumably some distance away, perhaps even out in Cana, the fig tree was an image of Israel in the way that the bear signifies Russia and the eagle signifies the United States.  A man sitting “under the fig tree” would be seen as an image of a son of Israel.

“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”  Bartholomew identifies Jesus as a rabbi, and then as something much more, “the Son of God . . . the King of Israel.”  Probably he did not mean “the Son of God” as possessing the divine nature but rather in the way that in former times judges, kings, prophets, heroes, and angels were styled “sons of God”.  When he calls him “the King of Israel”, he is acknowledging him as the Messiah, the son of David.  The Lord, for his part, answers Bartholomew with, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  In revealing to Bartholomew that he will see these things, he speaks of his future blessedness in heaven.

Likewise, the Lord says to us, who have come to believe in him as the Apostle Bartholomew did: “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

 Monday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 23, 2021

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace.  We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen. For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. In every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

St. Paul founded the Church at Thessalonica in the late 40’s AD during his first missionary journey.  Both Jewish and Gentile Christians made up the congregation.  They proved staunch and fervent, but struggled to understand such completely new doctrines as the resurrection of the dead and the end of the world.  The remarks Paul makes to them in his letters regarding the end of the world seem to indicate that this teaching played a large incentive for their conversion, and also their imperfect knowledge of them.  As their situation and concerns are very much our own today, it pays us to consider Paul’s words to them.

“Grace to you and peace.”  “Grace” is added to the traditional Jewish salutation, “peace”.  With this word, Paul both wishes for them God’s favor and the supernatural gift which “grace” is.  “Grace and peace”: for, the possession of grace allows for peace, inward and within the community.  “We give thanks to God always for all of you.”  This is an interesting expression, as though they had done Paul some great service rather than that they had received a great service from him, in bringing them the Faith.  And yet he does give thanks for them, for their having faith in Jesus Christ.  It is a sign of his love for his spiritual children.  “Remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.”  Paul now tells the Thessalonian Christians what his gratitude for them results in.  He remembers them in his prayers, and he praises them to God for their faith, hope, and love.  This would have meant a great deal to these new Christians, for they held Paul in the highest esteem and considered him their father.  “Knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen.”  Paul emphasized in his teaching, imitating the Apostles who had known the Lord to do this, that those who believed in the Lord Jesus were “chosen”.  Their very belief proved that they had been chosen from the foundation of the world.  It feels very different to walk into a house of one’s own volition and to stay there in an audience as an anonymous part, and knowing that you have been chosen to come inside, and that you are a desired member of an assembly.  To know oneself as chosen by God in his marvelous Providence is absolutely liberating.  You are known and cared for by Almighty God.  “Our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.”  Paul seems to speak of the working of miracles as well as of a dramatic coming of the Holy Spirit upon those assembled to hear him, as is sometimes recorded as happening in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Acts 10, 44-47).  

“You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.”  Paul speaks of the devout, humble life he lived among the Thessalonians, maintaining himself with his tent making and not demanding royal treatment and large sums for his living, as the promoters of pagan cults did.    He lived this way for their sake, that is, to provide them an example of how a Christian should live.  “In every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.  For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you.” Here, Paul commends their faith in exuberant terms, as a parent praises the first steps of his child.    “How you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”  “To serve” does not effectively translate the Greek verb, which means rather “to be subject to”, and “to obey”.  “To serve” conveys the idea of undertaking a function for a time; but the verb means entering a relationship.  “And to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.”  Paul mentions, for the first time, a theme that will become very important later in this letter and in his second letter to the Thessalonian Christians.  Our work as Christians is to await, through faith and virtuous acts, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We ought to recall that the Thessalonians had never seen Jesus and only learned of him through Paul.  That they believed in Jesus despite this second-hand knowledge of him is truly amazing, and ought to make us “cradle Catholics” wonder about the miracle that is each conversion.  This Lord Jesus will deliver us “from the wrath to come”, which is how the Apostles seem to have preached about the end of the world, as we note it also in 2 Peter 3, 7, among other places in the New Testament: “But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of the ungodly men.”  We note that Paul says that Jesus will “deliver” us “from the wrath to come”: it is as though the wrath will sweep away all but a few who are “delivered” (the Greek more graphically means “rescued”).  

We remember too that we are chosen by Almighty God, not due to any merit of our own but solely due to his free gift, and that, through grace, we have chosen him in return.

 The 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 22, 2021

John 6:60–69

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”  As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  Here is the saying to which the Lord’s followers objected: “For my flesh is food indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me: and I in him. As the living Father has sent me and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eats this bread shall live for ever” (John 6, 56-59).   Literally, the Greek text says: For the flesh of me is true food and the flesh of me is true drink.  He that eats of me, both my flesh and my blood, abides in me.  All this to say that the Greek is even stronger than the English translation.  There can be no misunderstanding: the Lord was speaking of his very flesh and blood as food and drink that must be eaten and drunk so that he — the Son of God — might abide in the one who does.  It ought to come as no surprise, then, that his followers observed, “This saying is hard.”  The Greek word rendered as “hard” also means “violent”, “harsh”, “stern”.  The saying of Jesus was “hard” in that it was difficult merely to listen to.  It was “harsh” because it required people to do that which seemed impossible.  It was “violent” in the visceral reaction people had to the Lord’s words and because they turned upside down how they understood God, the Manna, and the Messiah.  They were “stern” because the Lord did not back away from the stunning teaching he had delivered and insisted that his followers believe it and carry it out.

“Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”  The Lord asks the crowd, What is harder to believe: that you must eat my Body and drink my Blood, or that you will see me, the Son of man, ascend on my own into heaven?  For both are true.  

“It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.”  The words Jesus has spoken give life.  To believe that he speaks the truth is to receive the grace to know and to believe what he says.  And the signs the Lord performs lead us to believe that he speaks the truth.

“But there are some of you who do not believe.  For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”  That is, the Father grants all to come to the Son, but few indeed will accept the invitation.  Jesus phrases it the way he does in order to encourage those who come to him that they are obeying the will of the Father.  “Many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22, 14).  That is, only a few choose to accept the invitation.  

“As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”  This in spite of all the signs.  The last sign was one especially for them.  They had not simply watched another person being fed or cured; they had eaten the miraculously produced bread and fish themselves.  Their lack of belief here shows that although they were ready to believe in a messiah, they were not interested in believing in Jesus.  As with the people of his own home town of Nazareth, “they were scandalized” (Matthew 13, 57).  The Greek word translated here as “scandalized” means “caused to stumble”.  They “stumbled” because they would not accept the feeding of the multitude as a sign that Jesus spoke the truth and that they should believe it even if it were “a hard saying”.  

“Do you also want to leave?”  We can hear sadness in the Lord’s words.  So many had walked away when he offered to lay down his life for them.  Though the Lord knew that his Apostles would continue to follow him, he asks them so as to challenge them, and to give them an opportunity to pledge their loyalty to him.  “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  Peter speaks for them all.  His answer is revealing to us, for he does not say that he understands what the Lord has just taught.  He says that he and the others have “come to believe” that he is eminently trustworthy as having come from God.  Therefore, he and the others would come to understand and to believe about the Flesh and the Blood.

We too may struggle to understand the Lord’s teachings.  They are profound and they run against our fallen human nature and our pride.  Yet we accept them on his terms because we believe in him.

 Saturday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 21, 2021

Matthew 23:1-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

In paying the tax to Caesar, the tax to the Temple, in teaching the people to respect the authority of the scribes and the Pharisees, and in denying to Pilate that he was establishing his own kingdom on earth, the Lord Jesus shows that he does not intend to overthrow the political and social orders of the time.  In fact, he manifests a certain contempt for them, as if they were practically beneath his notice.  The Kingdom that he did come to establish completely surpasses these, and exists whether or not they exist.  The Christian belongs to this heavenly Kingdom regardless of what country he lives in or what type of government it has.  In living virtuously according to the Kingdom, the Christian ought to obey the just laws made by that government.  As St. Peter writes, “Be subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake: whether it be to the king as excelling, or to governors as sent by him” (1 Peter 2, 13-14).  The Lord Jesus does make the distinction between lawful authority and the humans who possess or wield it: “Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.”  The example that we follow is that of Jesus: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 4, 16).  

There are those who see authority and think, “Power.”  But the Christian sees it and thinks, with the mind of Jesus Christ, “Service.”  For this reason, the Lord says to his Apostles, “Do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.”  That is, Do not seek for people to call you “Rabbi”.  In the days of the Apostles, any man who went about teaching might be called a “rabbi”.  It was not a formal title bestowed after years of sanctioned study, as today.  A successful rabbi would start his own school and interpret the Law and the Prophets according to his own ideas.  He was his own authority in this.  The Apostles were not to go out and preach the Gospel in this way, but to preach the Gospel of Christ.  Similarly, “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ.”  Do not strive for authority so as to exercise it according to your own best interests.  Authority is for service to others, not to oneself: “The greatest among you must be your servant.”  Some Protestants argue that the Catholic custom of addressing priests as “Father” violates this injunction of the Lord.  That is not so, for the Lord is making a greater point than the petty literal one they think he is making.  (They conveniently overlook the fact that since they believe everyone can interpret the Scriptures as they wish, each Protestant becomes de facto his own “rabbi”, “teacher”, and “father”).  However, even if the Lord meant this to be taken literally, St. Paul did not feel constrained from understanding himself as a “father” (cf. 1 Corinthians 4;14-15).

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”  This is both a warning and an exhortation, in light of the above.  We note that whoever exalts himself will be humbled.  This is not, Whoever is exalted will be humbled.  That is, one who is exalted by Almighty God will not be humbled, for he or she is already humble.  The Blessed Virgin, calling herself God’s handmaid, yet rightly says, “From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1, 48).  She, and everyone who follows Christ, exalts him in their praise, and lowers themselves in their own sight.

 Friday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 20, 2021

Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

“When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.”  It frustrated and confused the Pharisees and the Sadducees that this carpenter from Nazareth had struck out on his own and had not sought to align himself with either group.  Beyond this, he had poked holes in their most important teachings and shown that these did not originate in the Law at all.  Nor could these purported teachers of Israel show anything irregular in his way of life.  No individual renegade should have withstood their combined force, and this one had, and he was gaining a large, enthusiastic following.  People even began to acclaim him as the Messiah.  But he was not one of them, and they could not control him.

“One of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ ”  We should note the enormous patience the Lord Jesus shows with his enemies — for they had made themselves his bitter foes.  The Lord allows them to approach him, to challenge him, and to question him.  He does not drive them away or threaten them.  He teaches.  He urges repentance.  He warns, but without malice.  He praises, when he can.  Only his concern for their salvation motivates him.  As he does with Judas, he gives them more than sufficient chances to draw back and to reconsider.  As with Judas, they will have no reason to complain at the final judgment.  With his question, this particular Pharisee is laying the foundation for an argument which he hopes will end up showing some contradiction in Jesus’s doctrine, or even some heresy.  The question might also lead to Jesus unmasking as one favoring the Pharisees, which would result in a loss of favor from his followers.  The Lord answers this very basic question on which all Jews could agree: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.”  Here is the Son of God, the Beloved of the Father, reciting the great commandment.  It would be thrilling to hear his voice as he pronounced these words, with all his infinite love for the Father pouring through them.  At the same time, we know how limited human language is, and that it can express only so much.  He says these words here, and he shows the extent of his love for his Father as he hangs on the Cross.  In heaven, we shall know the fullness of his love for the Father and of the Father’s love for him.  It is truly a love beyond all telling.

“The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Perhaps the Lord paused before uttering this second law, allowing the power of his cry of love for the Father to echo in the hearts of his hearers that they might be moved by it.  In going further than the Pharisee had asked, the Lord seizes the initiative and also jumps ahead in the argument in order to conclude it properly: “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”  It is an impossibly wise answer.  The Mosaic Law, as anyone can see from a reading of, say, the Book of Leviticus, is a vast collection of commandments, laws, rules, prescripts, rituals, and guidance.  It is not presented in any particular form, though at times several verses at a time pertain to the same subject.  To say that the Law depended on any one of its commandments was hazardous.  The Lord attesting to the love of God and the love of neighbor as the Law’s grounding, as its cornerstone, shows a far greater understanding of it than any mere carpenter from Nazareth could have.  This surpassing wisdom indicates his divinity.

St. Mark adds in his telling of this conversation that the Pharisee praised Jesus for his answer, at which the Lord looked him in the eye and said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12, 34).  The Pharisee, who has embraced the Lord’s teaching, shows that he can change.  He can be saved.  He needs to walk just a little more, with his eyes, mind, and heart open.

The rest of the Pharisees, who had pressed forward to see what they eagerly thought would be knock-down fight between their champion and this carpenter, lost their heart altogether.  Mark tells us, “And no man after that dared ask him any more questions.”  Were the Pharisees in awe of the Lord’s wisdom or were they just a little afraid that they might be wrong?  When we study Church doctrine and the Holy Scriptures, let us gaze upon the wisdom which brings us closer and closer to the Kingdom of God.

 Thursday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 19, 2021

Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables saying, “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’ Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Whereas the Parable of the Generous Landowner in yesterday’s Gospel reading speaks of the mystery of God’s generosity, the Parable of the King’s Feast, our Gospel reading for today’s Mass, tells of the mystery of man’s lack of generous response to God’s invitation.  

“He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.”  The wedding feast had been announced well in advance and the guests had already received their invitations.  The summoning here is a formality.  The servants making the summons were attired in festal clothing.  The guests consisted of lesser nobles and wealthy landowners.  The invitation to the son’s wedding feast provides the local gentry an opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to the king as well as their good wishes for the newly married couple.  The invitation is also a sign of the king’s favor.  All of this apart from the food, the entertainment, and the chance to renew relationships with neighboring nobles and landowners.

“Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.”  The behavior the Lord describes here is outrageous.  In its way, it is as bizarre as the Lord’s telling of the half a billion dollar loan a king made to his servant, in another parable (Matthew 18, 22-35).  The outlandish nature of the actions of the invited guests tells us that the Lord wants us to pay close attention to it.  This is the central point of the parable.  

“The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.”  While the king’s reaction may seem extreme, in the context of the Ancient Near East, it is perfectly logical and foreseeable.  The invited guests — important, wealthy, and influential people within his realm, sent a message to him with their behavior: they spurned him, held him in contempt, and showed disloyalty.  The next step for them would be open rebellion, perhaps inviting a neighboring king to invade the land.  This disloyalty presented a threat to the king’s reign and to his life, and he immediately sends out his army to destroy his enemies.

“Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.”  Now begins what is almost a second parable.  In it, the king dispenses with the idea of inviting his fellow rich friends to the wedding feast and now simply wants to fill his hall.  He will take anyone in: “The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.”  The Lord notably describes the guests in moral terms: “bad and good alike”.  “When the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.”  The king, having made his official entrance and words of welcome to the guests, makes his way among them, “the bad and the good alike”, and he meets up with a bad guest, one not wearing the wedding garment — either his own or one provided for him by the attendants.  This is an insult to the bride and the groom as well as to the host.  The king could throw him out at this point but instead he engages the fellow in conversation, as though to draw him into awareness of his improper dress: “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?”  The Greek text does not have the king addressing the man as “friend” but as “comrade” or “companion”.  We should note here that the king is addressing in this manner someone gathered from the highways and byways, treating him as an equal.  Perhaps it is this generosity that causes the man “to be silenced”, as the Greek says.  That is, the man knows full well that he is without a wedding garment.  He is showing contempt through this.  And yet the king speaks to him, and speaks to him in this way, as though they had been on terms of intimacy for some time.  The silence, however, is the final sign of insolence, and the king has him put out.  And not just put out: “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  Harsh though the punishment may be, it is commensurate with the crime.

The actions, in the parable, of the invited guest and the guest without his wedding garment defy reason.  When a person desires to do another a good turn, it is not natural to insult him for this desire.  To do this is indicative of great hatred within the person.  Even so, a person ought to see that it is in his own best interests to receive the good, whether or not he cares for the person that offers it.  It is simply perverse to do otherwise.  The incandescent hatred of God and of religion, especially in our society today, is a mystery, but it is very real.  What drives a person’s hatred of God?  Ultimately it is pride, but it is still hard to understand the level of pride that results in such fury.  We should take great care in our lives not to give in to the temptation to see ourselves as independent, “autonomous”, and masters of our own destiny.  This can begin with such a petty thing as vanity or coveting an object possessed by another, and this can spin out of control very quickly — even so that a person is unaware of it — into a ferocious pride that can hardly abide any other individual, and God least of all.

The Lord concludes his parable, saying, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”  That is, all are invited, but few choose to go.  Let not pride bind us and keep us in the darkness outside.