Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
St. Paul continues his treatise on Christian wisdom telling the church at Corinth that if they wish true wisdom they must reject human wisdom (“If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise.”) and be guided by the Spirit of Truth. He does this by quoting first Job 5:12 and then Psalm 94:11.
The passage is concluded with the Evangelist by assigning Christian value to all things of the life and the Church– the leaders (Paul or Apollos or Cephas), the past and future experience, and most importantly the ownership of the Christian by Christ linked to God through him. “Paul assigns all the persons involved in the theological universe a position on a scale: God, Christ, church members, church leaders. Read from top to bottom, the scale expresses ownership; read from bottom to top, the obligation to serve. This picture should be complemented by similar statements such as those in 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-28.”[3]
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Psalm 24 is a processional song. It recalls that God is the great creator and he calls his people to be faithful. It asks the question who can come into his presence and answers only those who are sinless (completely reconciled to God). They who achieve that beatified state will receive the reward of eternal life from the savior. It focuses on the character of the one who worthily seeks God and the one who is worthy to come into God’s kingdom and stand before him. We are answered; “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.”
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
St. Luke’s Gospel presents the call of St. Peter, St. James and St. John to discipleship. The Lord has demonstrated his authority through his teaching and then through the miraculous catch of fish. We note the similarity of this incident with the post-resurrection incident recounted in St. John’s Gospel (John 21:1-11).. At Jesus summons, Simon and the two sons of Zebedee leave all they have and follow Jesus.
Homily:
Learning to speak a language other than the one spoken at home growing up is difficult. In order to become fully fluent in that language one must become totally immersed in the language and culture for a period of time (some longer than others). After a while the fluent linguist can “think” in that language. In other words the person does not need to translate what is being said and what they are about to say from their native language; the thoughts come fully formed in the second language.
The great advantage of fluency is not just the ability to communicate but, it is the only way to understand some facets of the culture the language is derived from. There are always concepts and ideas particular to a culture that cannot be expressed in other languages.
To use a bit of hyperbole St. Paul is telling us in his letter to the Corinthians that we must learn a new language. We are to essentially redefine wisdom and reject the “wisdom of the world”. Our new language must be the language of Christ who defined victory with his death and strength with humility.
Fortunately for most of us, this is the language of our birth – we have just forgotten it but it can come back. When we were young our loving parents showed us the image of the love of God, they taught us right from wrong and nurtured us, keeping us safe from harm. It is that love that is the language of Christ – the language we are called to relearn.
How, we might ask, does one go about leaning this language? The best way, like any other language is to use it all the time; if possible to immerse one’s self in it (like a retreat – spending time completely dedicated to God’s wisdom.) If we can do this, use Christ’s language all the time, we will become fluent and with fluency comes knowledge that can only be understood when we do not translate from the wisdom of the world but think in that language.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Allegory of Wisdom” by Orazio Samacchini, c. 1575
[3] See NAB footnote on 1 Corinthians 3:21-23
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
St. Paul continues his treatise on Christian wisdom telling the church at Corinth that if they wish true wisdom they must reject human wisdom (“If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise.”) and be guided by the Spirit of Truth. He does this by quoting first Job 5:12 and then Psalm 94:11.
The passage is concluded with the Evangelist by assigning Christian value to all things of the life and the Church– the leaders (Paul or Apollos or Cephas), the past and future experience, and most importantly the ownership of the Christian by Christ linked to God through him. “Paul assigns all the persons involved in the theological universe a position on a scale: God, Christ, church members, church leaders. Read from top to bottom, the scale expresses ownership; read from bottom to top, the obligation to serve. This picture should be complemented by similar statements such as those in 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-28.”[3]
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Psalm 24 is a processional song. It recalls that God is the great creator and he calls his people to be faithful. It asks the question who can come into his presence and answers only those who are sinless (completely reconciled to God). They who achieve that beatified state will receive the reward of eternal life from the savior. It focuses on the character of the one who worthily seeks God and the one who is worthy to come into God’s kingdom and stand before him. We are answered; “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.”
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
St. Luke’s Gospel presents the call of St. Peter, St. James and St. John to discipleship. The Lord has demonstrated his authority through his teaching and then through the miraculous catch of fish. We note the similarity of this incident with the post-resurrection incident recounted in St. John’s Gospel (John 21:1-11).. At Jesus summons, Simon and the two sons of Zebedee leave all they have and follow Jesus.
Homily:
Learning to speak a language other than the one spoken at home growing up is difficult. In order to become fully fluent in that language one must become totally immersed in the language and culture for a period of time (some longer than others). After a while the fluent linguist can “think” in that language. In other words the person does not need to translate what is being said and what they are about to say from their native language; the thoughts come fully formed in the second language.
The great advantage of fluency is not just the ability to communicate but, it is the only way to understand some facets of the culture the language is derived from. There are always concepts and ideas particular to a culture that cannot be expressed in other languages.
To use a bit of hyperbole St. Paul is telling us in his letter to the Corinthians that we must learn a new language. We are to essentially redefine wisdom and reject the “wisdom of the world”. Our new language must be the language of Christ who defined victory with his death and strength with humility.
Fortunately for most of us, this is the language of our birth – we have just forgotten it but it can come back. When we were young our loving parents showed us the image of the love of God, they taught us right from wrong and nurtured us, keeping us safe from harm. It is that love that is the language of Christ – the language we are called to relearn.
How, we might ask, does one go about leaning this language? The best way, like any other language is to use it all the time; if possible to immerse one’s self in it (like a retreat – spending time completely dedicated to God’s wisdom.) If we can do this, use Christ’s language all the time, we will become fluent and with fluency comes knowledge that can only be understood when we do not translate from the wisdom of the world but think in that language.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Allegory of Wisdom” by Orazio Samacchini, c. 1575
[3] See NAB footnote on 1 Corinthians 3:21-23
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