Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

“Sermon on the Mount”
by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1877

 
Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13
 
We have been reassured about you, brothers and sisters,
in our every distress and affliction, through your faith.
For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
 
What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you,
for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?
Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person
and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.
Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus
direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase
and abound in love for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
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Commentary on 1 Thes 3:7-13
 
St. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians in a conversational tone. He first thanks God for their faithfulness in the face of difficulties. He then offers a prayer, asking God to increase their love for each other and others using one of the Lord’s sayings (Love one another as I have loved you). It is clear from his prayerful lament that he greatly desires to continue his instruction with them, instruction that was interrupted when he was forced to leave hurriedly (Acts 17:5-10).  By way of example, he reminds them that even he must depend upon God to allow him to return, and that it is only through God’s grace that his teaching and preaching will be efficacious.
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:3-5a, 12-13, 14 and 17
 
R. (14) Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
 
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
 
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
 
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
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Commentary on Ps 90:3-5a, 12-13, 14 and 17
 
Psalm 90 is an individual song of thanksgiving. In this section, the psalmist reflects on God’s immensity and asks for God’s continued presence in support of all the singer's activities. It is made implicit that only with God’s help is any good thing accomplished, “prosper the work of our hands!”
 
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Gospel: Matthew 24:42-51
 
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
 
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants,
and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely
and assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
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Commentary on Mt 24:42-51
 
This discourse from St. Matthew’s Gospel follows his reflections about the end times, and the need for vigilance.  The Lord speaks to those who follow him, especially the leaders of the community of faithful he leaves behind, telling them they will not know the time when they will be called to the kingdom of Heaven.
 
In three consecutive verses Jesus tells his disciples he is coming: “Lord will come,” “the thief was coming,” and “the Son of Man will come.” He uses the analogy of a thief (see also 1 Thessalonians 5: 2,4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3; Revelation 16:15) emphasizing the uncertainty of the time (a thief does not announce himself). [4]
 
In the second section he tells his followers that those who are found to be vigilant will be rewarded at the end of all things, while those who have fallen away will be punished. “This verse [v.44] is the beginning of the second part of Jesus’ eschatological sermon.  Now, while the first part dealt with the certainty of the Second Coming and some of its attendant phenomena as well as with the treatment that Christ’s disciples can expect from the world, the second part that begins here exclusively addresses how the disciples themselves ought to live as they await the Parousia and on the basis of what principles they will be judged.” [5]
 
CCC: Mt 24:44 673
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Reflection:
 
Following the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church is the most difficult thing we do. Some might argue that it should not be so, that our faith should be a “feel good” thing and should be made easy. I do not doubt their sincerity, but the discipline embodied in Sacred Scripture and its doctrinal expression by the Church makes following the path difficult (the “Way” as it was called in the very early Church at the time of Acts of the Apostles). In the Gospel today, the Lord tells us that constancy is not optional.
 
To emphasize the point of how difficult the path is to follow we give you a quote.  Actually, it is a quote of a quote from Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict XVI who cited St. Augustine as he reflected upon his mission as Bishop of Hippo. This is what Pope Benedict quoted:
 
“The turbulent have to be corrected, the faint-hearted cheered up, the weak supported; the Gospel's opponents need to be refuted, its insidious enemies guarded against; the unlearned need to be taught, the indolent stirred up, the argumentative checked; the proud must be put in their place, the desperate set on their feet, those engaged in quarrels reconciled; the needy have to be helped, the oppressed to be liberated, the good to be encouraged, the bad to be tolerated; all must be loved. The Gospel terrifies me.” [6]
 
When we accept the role of Christian witness or if we simply agree to follow the precepts of the Church in our daily lives (all the issues St. Augustine identifies occur within us as well), we are faced with a daunting task that is only made possible because of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, and the sacramental grace provided along the way.
 
Today let us pray that we be given the strength to overcome our unruly hearts, to embrace the Father with confident love, and to remain constantly vigilant: “for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
 
Pax
 

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[1] The picture used is “Sermon on the Mount” by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1877.
[2] S.S Commemoratio
[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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume III, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 2012 p. 742.
[5] Ibid. p. 751.
[6] St. Augustine, Sermo 339, 4: PL 38, 148.