Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
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.
One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
“They were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority”
Fr. Joan BLADÉ i Piñol (Barcelona, Spain)Today, we can see how His teaching activity was Jesus' central mission of His public life. Jesus' preaching, however, was very different from others, and this surprised and amazed people. Despite the fact Jesus had not studied (cf. Jn 7:15), He, certainly, befuddled the Jews with his teachings, “because he spoke with authority” (Lk 4:32). His style of speech had the authority of he who knows He is the “Saint of God”.
It was precisely such authority in His speech that gave strength to His language. He used living and specific images, without any syllogisms or definitions; words and images He pulled out from the very nature or, more often than not, from the Holy Scriptures. Jesus was, no doubt, a good observer, a man close to human situations: while we can watch Him teaching, we can also see Him so close to people doing good to them (healing their sicknesses, driving out evil spirits, etc.). In the book of everyday life He read those experiences that, later on, He would use in his teachings. Despite this elementary and “basic” material, the Lord's word was always profound and perturbing, radically new and definite.
The greatest thing about Jesus Christ's speech was how He could combine His divine authority with the most incredible human simplicity. Both authority and simplicity were possible in Jesus thanks to His knowledge of the Father and His relation of amorous obedience with Him (cf. Mt 11:25-27). It is this special relationship with the Father that explains that unique harmony between greatness and humility. The authority of His speech did not adjust to human parameters; there was no competition, no personal interest or glitter. It was the kind of authority manifested both by the sublimity of the word and its humility and simplicity. There never was on His lips any personal praise, haughtiness or shouting. Meekness, gentleness, understanding, peace, truth, light, justice..., this was the aroma surrounding the authority of His teachings.
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind.” (Saint Caherine of Siena)
“The Gospel is the word of life: it does not oppress people, on the contrary, it frees those who are slaves to the many evil spirits of this world: the spirit of vanity, attachment to money, pride, sensuality.” (Francis)
“The fact that God permits physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 324)
September 1st
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Gospel and commentary video
_______