 |
| “ |
Reading 1:
1 Corinthians 2:10b-16
Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of
God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of
God,
for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
1 Cor 2:10b-16
St. Paul continues his discourse
on Christian Wisdom and perfection in the spirit. In this passage he talks
about the discernment of things of the spirit, and how Christian Wisdom allows
the faithful to discern the will of God ("…no one knows what pertains
to God except the Spirit of God”). The “will of God” seems foolish to human
wisdom (“…to him it is foolishness”). The Christian, however, has access
to the Wisdom of God and is guided by it. (“But we have the mind of Christ.”)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 145:8-9, 10-11,
12-13ab, 13cd-14
R. (17) The Lord is just in all
his ways.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
Let all your works give you thanks, O
Lord,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your
Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your
Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all
generations.
R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The Lord lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
R. The Lord is just in all his ways.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13ab,
13cd-14
Psalm 145 is a hymn of praise.
These strophes call on the faithful to give thanks to God for opening the gates
of his Heavenly Kingdom. The psalmist sings his praise to God who is
faithful to his people and who saves those who are in need. The selection gives
praise God for his mercy and compassion, and thanks for his creation and redemption.
There is also a subtle link to "Christian Wisdom" that comes with
putting on the mind of Christ. The entire song is in the acrostic form
(although loosely assembled), each verse beginning with a successive letter of
the Hebrew alphabet.
CCC: Ps 145:9 295, 342
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel:
Luke 4:31-37
Jesus
went down to Capernaum , a town of Galilee
He
taught them on the sabbath,
and
they were astonished at his teaching
because
he spoke with authority.
In
the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and
he cried out in a loud voice,
“What
have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have
you come to destroy us?
I
know who you are–the Holy One of God!”
Jesus
rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”
Then
the demon threw the man down in front of them
and
came out of him without doing him any harm.
They
were all amazed and said to one another,
“What
is there about his word?
For
with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and
they come out.”
And
news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Lk 4:31-37
This passage from
St. Luke’s Gospel begins a series of events around Capernaum that expand Jesus'
public image from prophet to teacher, exorcist, healer, and proclaimer of God’s
kingdom. Here, he expels an evil spirit that asks him if he has come to destroy
evil. “How does your concern affect me?" Literally, ‘What is
this to me and to you?’ This is a Hebrew expression of either hostility (Judges
11:12; 2 Chronicles 35:21; 1
Kings 17:18), or denial
of common interest (Hosea 14:9; 2
Kings 3:13; cf Mark
1:24; 5:7) used
by demons to Jesus.”[4] It is interesting that the
Spirit uses the Lord’s full name, perhaps in an attempt to control him. Instead
the Lord commands the evil spirit and it leaves, amazing the crowd and spreading
his fame in the region.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Those
of you who are fortunate enough to have fluency in a second language or
specialized training in a field of employment are going to have an easier time
with St. Paul’s letter today than those of us who only speak a single
language. Paul says today;
We have not
received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may
understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with
words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing
spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
There
is a second language that we must learn to speak when discussing the things of
God. It is “The Language of God.” The language of God is different than the
language of logic or even philosophy used in describing the things of man. Let’s look at a few examples.
If
we observe a person who is making a living wage, not wealthy, not highly paid,
but a living wage, and see that person giving a large piece of that wage, say
10%, to a charity, thereby depriving that person of any luxury items, and some
things we might even classify as necessities,
using the language of logic, that is the language of the secular world,
we would call that person foolish, or even stupid.
Using
the language of the Holy Spirit in the same situation, we instantly are
reminded of the scripture from the Gospel of Mark:
He sat down
opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small
coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other
contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus
wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole
livelihood." (Mk 12 42-44)
We
would say, using the language of the Holy Spirit, how blessed that person is,
and what a wonderful example of faith.
We would praise that person as an example to be followed. It’s a different language.
Let’s
look at another situation. A person is at work and sees the boss doing
something very wrong and unjust; let’s say doctoring time cards of other
employees so he can make his labor budget.
The person goes to that boss, and tells the boss that what he is doing
is wrong and illegal, and must be corrected.
Because the boss wants to keep looking good so he can make more money, he
has the employee fired under false pretenses.
Using secular logic, the person that confronted the boss would, again,
be considered foolish or stupid. After
all, it was someone else’s time card not theirs and the rule is: “Look out for
number one.”
Again
looking at the same situation using the language of the Holy Spirit, the person
in our example would have done exactly the right thing. That person Imitated our Lord, Jesus Christ,
who came to bring justice; attacking the act (notice in our story, the sin was
what was attacked not the sinner) was a noble action. It was made even more admirable because the
personal consequences were ignored. The
person in our story clearly knew a better rule: “Love one another.” It is after all a different language.
The
lesson from St. Paul
Pax
[1]
The picture used today is “St. Paul ”
by Domenico Beccafumi, 1515
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
See NAB footnote on John 2:4
No comments:
Post a Comment