Servant of the Word: Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“St. Mary Crowned”
(detail) from The Ghent Altarpiece
by Jan van Eyck, 1432

Proper for the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Readings for Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]

Commentary:

Reading 1: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12

St. Paul opens his second letter to the Church at Thessalonica, adding greeting from his two co-workers Silvanus and Timothy, with the warmth and affection he feels for this community of Christians in northern Greece, which he founded. We see in his opening remarks that the pagans and Jews which make up a majority of this city-state continue to persecute the Christians, and the evangelist exhorts them to remain firm in their faith in spite of these trials. God, he promises, will find glory through their perseverance and in turn will glorify them.

CCC: 2 Thes 1:11 2636

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5

R. (3) Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.

Commentary on Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5

Psalm 96 is a hymn of praise to the one true God. The psalmist invites all people to come to faith and believe in God who created all things, and is above all things.

CCC: Ps 96:2 2143

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Gospel: Matthew 23:13-22

Commentary on Mt 23:13-22

This selection from St. Matthew’s Gospel lays down the first three of the “Seven Woes” in which Jesus condemns Pharisaic practices. The first condemnation directly attacks their authority as shepherds tasked with leading the people to God. He accuses them of “locking the kingdom of heaven” (recall earlier Jesus gave St. Peter the keys to that lock Matthew 16:19). The inference is that they lack the authority, principally because their own actions do not merit them entry into God’s Kingdom.

The second “Woe” is probably a reflection about the vehemence with which new converts to Judaism persecuted the early Christian Church. The inference is that, in the conversion process, the Pharisees' teaching closed the minds of those converts to the truth, and thereby took them off the path to salvation. The Lord goes on to ridicule these “false guides” because what they do does not match what they teach.

The third “Woe” attacks the whole concept of the language used in making a binding oath. The essence of the Lord’s attack is that, if one makes a promise, the underlying honesty of the person should be the bond, not some legal construct based upon the exact language used. If one swears an oath based upon a object that points to God, they have sworn on God himself. Though Jesus forbids his disciples from making oaths of any sort, he tells the Jewish leaders that, because they only value oaths associated with the value it brings to the temple, their reward will be in “Gehenna.”

CCC: Mt 23:16-22 2111; Mt 23:21 586

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Reflection:

St. Paul is generally known as the pragmatist when it comes to instructions on how to live one’s faith in God and Christ. Yet today, we see the Lord himself, in his criticism of the Pharisees, provide us with valuable images of what it means to follow him authentically.

In the first three of the “Seven Woes” found in St. Matthew’s Gospel, he speaks to conduct that makes us worthy of the name Christian. (Oh, if you read the biblical text and not just the readings from the lectionary you may have noticed that v. 14 is actually not there. It is missing because it was not in the very first manuscripts of Matthew, that verse was actually inserted later and was taken almost verbatim from St. Mark’s Gospel (Mark 12:40). The syntax and content were clearly of a different style than the rest of St. Matthew’s work, so it has been left out of modern texts.). In the first of these, Jesus takes issue with the conduct of the Pharisees as they exercise the authority of their office. To paraphrase this “Woe,” we might say: “Because you tell everyone who does not do exactly as you say that they are going to hell, you have closed the gates of heaven for yourselves.” In other words, if we assume we have somehow been given the authority to judge others in God’s name, we have judged ourselves, and woe to us.

In the second “Woe,” we are warned, again through the Lord’s condemnation of the Pharisees, that to lead others into that elitist attitude, described in the first “Woe,” leads the converted to condemnation. That seems convoluted, but let’s say it this way: if we bring a person to share our faith (this is especially important for parents to understand), and tell the converted person that anyone who disagrees with them (and us) about the faith is going to hell, we have placed them on a path that leads to the very place to which we have condemned those who may disagree with us. Logically, this means we must cling to truth, but we must not presume to condemn or judge. Judgment is reserved to Jesus alone.

The third “Woe” is aimed at being honest with ourselves, and with God. When we make a promise, we should not behave like children who might quibble over the exact language used when assigning a task. A child might say; “You told me to pick up my room and I did. You didn’t say I had to clean under my bed.” I would hate to be a lawyer and have to live up to this “Woe.” The point is, when we make a promise, most especially a sacred promise, we must mean what we say, and act on that promise in good faith. “Woe” to us if we do not.

Today we have been given three very practical instructions that will lead us closer to the peace of Christ. They may not always be appreciated by the world, but for us, the world is not where we place our hope – it is in Christ’s salvation we have hope.

Pax

[1] S.S. Commemoratio

[2] The picture is “St. Mary Crowned” (detail) from The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck, 1432