The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the events of our lives in which we have experienced faith, love, and hope.
The Way of Love
The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians praises the Thessalonians’ Faith and Example.
* [1:6] Imitators: the Pauline theme of “imitation” (see 1 Thes 2:14; 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1; 2 Thes 3:9) is rooted in Paul’s view of solidarity in Christ through sharing in Jesus’ cross and in the Spirit of the risen Lord.1
Psalm 149 is praise for God’s Goodness to Israel.
* [Psalm 149] A hymn inviting the people of Israel to celebrate their God in song and festive dance (Ps 149:1–3, 5) because God has chosen them and given them victory (Ps 149:4). The exodus and conquest are the defining acts of Israel; the people must be ready to do again those acts in the future at the divine command (Ps 149:6–9).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus expresses woe to hypocrites.
* [23:1–39] The final section of the narrative part of the fifth book of the gospel is a denunciation by Jesus of the scribes and the Pharisees (see note on Mt 3:7). It depends in part on Mark and Q (cf. Mk 12:38–39; Lk 11:37–52; 13:34–35), but in the main it is peculiar to Matthew. (For the reasons against considering this extensive body of sayings-material either as one of the structural discourses of this gospel or as part of the one that follows in Mt 24–25, see note on Mt 19:1–23:39.) While the tradition of a deep opposition between Jesus and the Pharisees is well founded, this speech reflects an opposition that goes beyond that of Jesus’ ministry and must be seen as expressing the bitter conflict between Pharisaic Judaism and the church of Matthew at the time when the gospel was composed. The complaint often made that the speech ignores the positive qualities of Pharisaism and of its better representatives is true, but the complaint overlooks the circumstances that gave rise to the invective. Nor is the speech purely anti-Pharisaic. The evangelist discerns in his church many of the same faults that he finds in its opponents and warns his fellow Christians to look to their own conduct and attitudes.3
The Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries was not available today. Peter Edmonds SJ introduces us to these early Christians who ‘received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit’. The advantage of reading Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, the earliest New Testament book, is that it was written soon after his missionary visit in 49.
The Thessalonians were people of joy who, having imitated Paul, had become examples to other communities in Achaia (Greece). He acknowledges the tribulations that they had to face and he congratulates them on their perseverance. The early date of the letter is confirmed by a mention of their expectation of the imminent return of Christ. Presiding over the whole scene is God: the God of these Christians is not a god of idols but a God who is living and active (1:5-10).4
Don Schwager quotes “Shutting the Kingdom of Heaven,” by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD).
"There are those who dare to say that God is not good because of the curses in his law that he places against their sin. And yet the one who is truly the Son of God who gave that same law is also the same one who put blessings into the law. The same God who provides blessings for those who are saved in a similar way applies curses which he placed in the law against sinners. 'Woe,' he says. Woe to you and to those hearing these things who plead the God of the law and yet do not understand that these words were spoken by God in a kindly way. So we understand why Jesus said, 'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees.' They believe that it is in fact a good thing to pronounce these curses against sinners. They consider the arrangement of the law's curses to be a part of God's design. The chiding father frequently urges his advice on his son for his improvement - advice that may seem to be a curse. He does not wish the curses to be actualized, however, but rather he desires to avert him from even more such curses."(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 13)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8-10 comments that we are not all that different from our Thessalonian brothers and sisters. God wants to encourage us and remind us that he is at work in us. And when we become aware of our sin and our need to change, he asks us to turn our gaze to the cross and confess our need for his grace to become more like Christ.
Right now, today, God is drawing you to his side. So answer his call and run to him, the one who loves you unconditionally. Tell him that you need him, and ask him to help you on your way to heaven. He has begun something marvelous in you, and he is committed to bringing it to completion! “Thank you, Father, for your love for me. May my awareness of this love increase my hunger and thirst for you.”6
Friar Jude Winkler notes the mention of Silvanus and Timothy and use of the third person pronoun in the Letter to the Thessalonians. Faith is presented as a work, love as a labour, and hope as endurance in waiting for Christ. Friar Jude suggests that Matthew’s Gospel was completed by a converted Pharisee who emphasized the Spirit of the Law.
Barbara Holmes understands the Universal Christ as a grand revelation of love at the foundation of the Universe. CAC Board Member Alexie Torres-Fleming also ponders how the mystery of the Universal Christ might affect our work for justice.
What are the implications of the Universal Christ for those at the margins of our society: the poor, the suffering, those that are othered and oppressed in our world? In [The Universal Christ] Richard says, “God loves things by becoming them.” So when I couple this with my understanding of the Incarnation, how this great Mystery of the universe desired to be completely known; and that God is not just, as Father Richard said, present in us, but also as us, what I see is a radical level of belonging and a recognition of the absolute holiness of the asylum seekers and refugees at our borders, the Black young man in America, the transgender person . . . the gay person . . . the incarcerated person, the Muslim person, the Black and brown woman. What I understand is that we are loved, we belong, and that we are not a mistake or a problem to be solved or a public policy to be fixed, but a holy part of the Divine Mystery that is the Universal Christ. [2]7
Joy is connected to our relationship with Christ as our faith, hope, and love moves us to openness and humility.
References
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