FIRST READING: Jeremiah 1: 4-5; 17-19. The word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. "Gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you." EXPLANATION: Jeremiah, one of the greatest prophets of Old Testament times, lived in a turbulent and eventually fatal period of Jewish history (600-550 circa). The people (and most of their kings) had for years neglected the things of God. They admired the pagan nations and too often the pagan gods. God let the pagan nations punish them. Before I formed you in the womb: Jeremiah was destined to be a prophet from the first moment of his existence. God knew him, i.e. saw his future mission.
I consecrated you: Consecrated him for his office of prophet.
to the nations: His message was also for the Gentiles, for God, as ruler of the whole universe, was interested in all mankind.
gird . . . your loins: A command to get ready for action.
say to them . . . I command you: In verse 6 Jeremiah had complained that he was too young to admonish the people, but God tells him to stand up fearlessly and speak the word of God. He has nothing to fear for God is with him.
fortified city . . . bronze walls: Under three images God describes the strength he has given him.
kings . . . priests . . . people: To all alike, high and low, he must announce God's word.
prevail against you: They are too steeped in their earthly and political schemes to accept the prophet's words. They will resist him but they will not overcome him, for
I am with you: God promises his divine assistance, and who can prevail against God? APPLICATION: These five verses of the book of Jeremiah which you have had read to you describe something that happened over two thousand five hundred years ago. You might well ask what has that got to do with me today. Why should I worry about what happened to some Jew six hundred years before Christ came? But it is because you and I have much we can learn from this man's life and work, that God has preserved his story for us in the sacred Bible. Learning from the past is an absolutely essential preparation for our journey into the future. Jeremiah trod the road that we are called on to tread today. He has left us signposts we must follow if we want to arrive at our journey's end. He accepted the vocation God gave him, namely, to try to turn the kings and people of Judah from the false paths they had chosen. He foresaw the impossibility of such a task and he shuddered at the thought of it. Yet, once he realized this was God's will for him, he set about the task and carried it out to the bitter end. He did not succeed in saving either the faith or the fatherland of his contemporaries. He saw Jerusalem destroyed and its citizens carried off in chains to Babylon. His own life ended, if not in martyrdom (which is very probable), at least as a prisoner in Egypt where his Jewish enemies had forcibly taken him. And yet he was a success. He carried out God's will faithfully without counting the cost. He did his part to prepare a remnant of the old Chosen People so that they would preserve belief in the true God and trust in his promises until Christ came to form the New People of God. He lit a candle in a cave of darkness which later, illumined the path to Christ; he planted a sapling which in years to come would be the tree from which the Ark of the New Covenant would be built. Jeremiah succeeded and is now enjoying his reward. We too have our trials and troubles in life. Our Christian faith demands sacrifices of us. The world in which we live is earth-bound and earth-directed. The majority of men feverishly seek after its pleasures, its power and its plenty. Not only have they no time themselves for the gospel of penance, patience and poverty, but they despise and spurn the few who do, and thus make their Christian living all the harder. However, where Jeremiah succeeded the Christian can succeed and with less difficulty---he has the example of the suffering Savior ever before his eyes. If he grasps his daily cross firmly and resolutely it will become lighter---the road to Calvary will be less steep and the light of the Mount of Ascension will brighten its darkness.
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 12: 31; 13: 1-13. Earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind, love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. EXPLANATION: In the readings of the last two Sundays, St. Paul has been describing the marvellous and the various gifts that the Holy Spirit had given to the new converts of Corinth. Today we hear him speak of the greatest gift of all---the divine virtue of charity, that is, love of God above all things else, and love of neighbor for God's sake.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels: The gift of speaking languages unlearned was one of the gifts given to the early Church. But, says St. Paul, if he spoke all the languages of this world and the next his words would be only empty sounds, unless they were impregnated and moved by charity.
prophetic powers . . . knowledge . . . faith (ie. trust): All these gifts are of no use to himself or to others unless proceeding from charity.
give away all I have to feed the poor . . . burned: If he gave away all that he had and even suffered death. but did so from motives other than love of God and neighbor, it was a labor in vain.
love is patient: He goes on now to show the qualities of true charity. One who truly loves God and neighbor will be patient, kind, humble, forgiving in his dealings with others. He will regret it when anyone sins because it is against the all-loving God. He will believe all that God has revealed and hope for all that God has promised, for the all-loving God could not deceive his children. And the promises our faith offer us are so great that no suffering on earth can compare even remotely with them.
love never ends: Another and a basic reason why charity is greater than all the other marvellous gifts given to men by the Holy Spirit, is that charity is to endure forever. It will be the virtue of heaven. The other gifts, even faith and hope, are for this life only. We shall not need them in the future life, we shall have the reality, we shall be in God's presence, a presence of eternal love, i.e. charity.
I shall understand . . . understood: Paul has been known to God, i.e. has been God's friend and elected apostle, because of God's merciful love for him. In heaven Paul's love for God will be so much greater in proportion to the greater and more direct knowledge of God which he will possess in the beatific vision. It is love rather than mere knowledge that is stressed here.
faith, hope and love: The three theological virtues, the solid basis of our relationship with God in this life, are greater than all the supernatural gifts received by the early Church. But of these three, charity is the queen and will last forever, whilst faith and hope will give place to the reality in the future life. APPLICATION: The image of the one body, which St. Paul used to describe the Christian community, is perfect in itself. Christ is our Head, he has made us his members---we are the eyes, the ears, the legs, the arms of that one body of which the main purpose in life is to get to eternity. It should be not only the duty of each of us to contribute all in our power to help all the other members along, but we should regard it as our privilege that we are allowed to help Christ by helping our neighbor. In our physical body there is harmony when each member carries out its duty---the legs walk, the eyes see and so on, and because of this cooperation, all goes well. But there is one snag as regards the members of the mystical body---each one is an individual, a person with his own will and desires and his natural inclination is to think of himself rather than of the community. Each one can very well say: "I have enough to do to look after myself without having to help my neighbor as well." Indeed far too many say it! You certainly have more than enough to do, and, as God has arranged things, you have the impossible to do, if you think you can reach eternal happiness while selfishly thinking of your own interests only. No man is an island in civil society. No nation or group of people can survive, much less prosper, unless each individual cooperates with the others, and contributes his assistance to the whole. Only then is civil life possible. The same is true and even more so in the religious society---the Church---which Christ has founded to bring us to eternal life. He took human nature in order to make all men adopted sons of God. His work has to go on until the last man leaves this earth. He has set up a society which is to carry on his work until the end of time. He has made us cooperators with him in that divine work. He has made us the members of his mystical body, and each one of us is asked by him to help him in this work of divine love. Our response to this request of Christ will prove how sincere our Christian charity is. It is easy to say that we love God, and it is easy to convince ourselves that we have this love in us. The acid test is our true love of our neighbor (see 1 Jn. 4: 10). Many of those described by our Lord himself in his vivid account of the last judgement thought they had loved God and had never been selfish in this regard. But they learned too late, and to their utter dismay, that they had not loved him and had not cared for him because they had failed to care for their neighbor. "I was hungry . . . thirsty . . . naked . . . in prison." "When did we see thee hungry . . . ?" "Amen, I say to you, as long as you did not do it for one of these least ones, you did not do it for me" (Mt. 25: 41-46). The others in that scene, the ones that the king has placed at his right hand, had fed the hungry, had clothed the naked, had visited the sick. In other words, they had proved their true love for God by their charity towards their neighbor, having kept his other commandments as well. They received the welcome invitation "come blessed of my Father." So will we, if we too prove our true love for God by keeping his commandments and especially by keeping his command to love our neighbor as ourselves.
GOSPEL: Luke 4:21-30. Jesus began to say to all in the synagogue, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country."' And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away. EXPLANATION: This is an incident in our Lord's life which occurred in his native town. Nazareth. According to the Gospel narrative he returned to Galilee after his baptism by John the Baptist at the Jordan river. Being in Nazareth on the Sabbath day he went to the local synagogue and was asked to read a lesson from the scroll (book) of the prophets. He chose a messianic passage from the Prophet Isaiah (Is. 61: 1-2), and then went on to explain it, saying
Today this Scripture . . . fulfilled: He tells the congregation that these words of Isaiah are being fulfilled, that in other words, he himself was the promised Messiah.
all spoke well of him: His sincerity and eloquence appealed to them, they "wondered at his discourse."
Is not this Joseph's son?: But very soon they began to change their minds, they remembered he was the son of Joseph, the carpenter. That, of course, was the common opinion of him in his native town. Neither Mary nor Joseph had revealed the secret known to them only.
Physician, heal yourself: He has read their hearts, they could not possibly accept that a mere carpenter's son was the promised Messiah. He anticipated their challenge: how can you heal us if you are ill yourself, that is to say---how can you be the Messiah, the Son of King David, when you are only a very ordinary man, like the rest of us?
Do here . . . in your own country: They were about to challenge his claim to work miracles. He could fool the people of Capernaum, a town some thirty-five miles away but not his own neighbors.
We have heard you did: The implication is that the talk of miracles, worked by him, was empty rumor. Let him prove himself now. They would not be taken in so easily, as they knew all about him!
No prophet is acceptable in his own country: This was and still is a fairly universally accepted fact.
But . . . I tell you: To show them that they were no better than their ancestors, he goes on to quote examples from the past, where prophets sent by God to the Chosen People were not listened to by the people, but that the Gentiles listened to them and were rewarded for so doing.
Elijah . . . but only to Zarephath: Elijah worked a miracle to feed a Gentile widow during a three-and-a-half-year famine while many widows of Israel were given no such divine favor, and
the prophet Elisha: Elisha, the successor of Elijah, healed Naaman, the Syrian leper, a Gentile, while there were hundreds of lepers in Israel left uncured. The reason was in both cases that the Israelites refused to believe that these men were prophets sent by God (see 1 Kgs. 17 and 2 Kgs. 5 for these two incidents).
when they heard this . . . filled with wrath: The people in the synagogue understood what he meant. Because of their lack of faith they were rejecting him, and therefore he would bring the messianic blessings to the Gentiles. This to them was a gross insult. As the chosen people they alone had a claim to the Messiah.
They rose up . . . throw him down head-long: They were so incensed that they decided, there and then, to put him to death by throwing him over a high cliff to which they led him, but
passing through . . . he went away: They had asked sarcastically for a miracle; he worked one but it was against themselves. He miraculously escaped from their clutches. "His hour had not yet come." APPLICATION: This rejection of Jesus by his own townsfolk must have sincerely grieved him. But it was only the beginning of similar rejections. Their attempt to murder him was an indication of what was yet to come. "To his own he came but his own did not accept him" as St. John says (1: 11). The reason was that the Messiah they were looking for was a political leader who would make Israel a political power not only among the nations but over the other nations. Nearly all the messianic prophecies had references to the universality of the messianic kingdom---this universality they interpreted in a political, worldly sense. Their interest in things spiritual was then at a very low ebb and therefore the message of Christ had little interest for them. They did not want a spiritual kingdom. For seventeen centuries they had been God's Chosen People, and they were proud of their superiority over the sinful Gentiles who did not know the true God. That very pride of theirs was their undoing. The Gentiles were God's children too, and they also were to share in, the new kingdom which the Messiah would establish, but the very thought of this was abhorrent to the vast majority of the Jews. In spite of all their opposition, however, Jesus spent his public life amongst them. He gave them the first offer of entering the new kingdom. They could still continue to be God's Chosen People together with, and alongside, the other nations of the earth. They refused. And their refusal went so far as to call in the aid of the hated Gentiles to crucify the One---their own fellow Jew---who had come to bring them the message of the true kingdom and the offer of being its first citizens. There were exceptions, of course, and honorable exceptions at that. Christ founded his Church, the new kingdom of God on the Apostles, who were Jews, and through their noble sacrifices and efforts, the kingdom spread to all the Gentile nations of the earth. Because of their sacrifices, we are Christians, members of Christ's kingdom on earth and heirs to his eternal kingdom in heaven. Through our Christian teaching we have learned that our life on this earth is but a period of preparation, a period during which we can earn the true life as citizens of his eternal kingdom. How often do we, like the Jews of Christ's day, forget this and bend all our efforts to building for ourselves a kingdom of power or wealth in this world, a kingdom which we will have to leave so soon? We would not, of course, openly deny Christ, much less try, like his neighbors in Nazareth, to throw him to his death over a cliff; but how often in our private actions, and in our dealings with our neighbors, do we push him and his doctrine quietly aside and act as if we knew him not. In this we are no better than Christ's neighbors of Nazareth and we grieve his loving heart as much as they did on that sad day. Am I one of those (each one of us can ask himself)? Do I really love Christ or, to put it in a more personal way, do I really love myself? If I do, I will not risk losing my place in the eternal kingdom for the sake of some paltry pleasure or gain in this present life which will end for me so very soon.-c085 Click to return to our Home page
