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.