Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

 

“Saint Peter Claver"
Artist and Date are UNKNOWN

 Additional Information about St. Peter Claver

 

(Alternate Readings may be taken from either the Common of Pastors or The Common of Holy Men and Women)

 

Readings for Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time[1]

 

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible[2]

 

Commentary:

 

Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27

 

Commentary on 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27

 

St. Paul continues to exhort the church at Corinth to follow his example. He begins this selection with a restatement of his own imperative call to proclaim the Gospel as a “divine compulsion.” His reward for responding to that call is that “… [he] too may have a share in it.” The Apostle then uses the analogy of an athlete in training to describe how he is compelled to discipline himself to the task of evangelization, stating that, in his success, he will win an “imperishable” crown of victory.

 

CCC: 1 Cor 9:5-18 2122; 1 Cor 9:19 876; 1 Cor 9:22 24

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6, 12

 

R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

 

Commentary on Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6, 12

 

Psalm 84 is a song of praise and thanksgiving sung by pilgrims anxious to experience the joy of the divine presence as they go to meet the Lord. They believe he is most present at their place of worship (the Temple in Jerusalem). The hope of the prize that awaits them shares the image of the victorious athlete proposed by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:24).

 

CCC: Ps 84:3 1770

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Gospel: Luke 6:39-42

 

Commentary on Lk 6:39-42

 

St. Luke continues Jesus’ dialogue from the “Sermon on the Plain” concerning the judgment of others. Taking his disciples aside, he tells them that, in time, they will assume his role in proclaiming the Gospel (“…but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher”). The exhortation that follows is not intended to say that they should not notice the failings of others; that would be inconsistent with Matthew 7:5,6. Rather, be “…against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one's own faults.”[4]

 

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Reflection:

 

When we take St. Paul’s discussion about his own call and place it with Jesus’ exhortation of his disciples about their spiritual growth, we get a pretty good picture of how we are supposed to take the Lord’s message of love to others.  St. Paul sees clearly that his call is not some casual pastime intended to give him something to do at his leisure.  Rather, it is a divine compulsion, driving him to reach out to everyone he meets.  In the omitted verses of the reading from the selection presented today, the Apostle explains how he attempts to meet Jews as a fellow Jew, and gentiles as a citizen of Rome, so he can establish a rapport with them and bring them to Christ.

 

St. Paul speaks of his own reward for responding to this compulsion using the analogy of an athlete victorious in a race. (The use of this analogy would have been appropriate in that his audience would have been very familiar with the Greek gymnasia and the nearby Isthmian games.)  Both the compulsion and the reward he speaks about would have been shared by the disciples listening to the Lord speaking about judgment of others.  The natural response to being picked as a special friend of Jesus (an Apostle as St. Paul calls himself) would be to become rather proud of that distinction.  This would be especially true when they heard Jesus say that, while no student was greater than their teacher, they would soon learn all that their teacher could tell them, and be bound by his mission.  That seems to summarize the meaning behind “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.”

 

To counterbalance God’s call to proclaim the Gospel with authority, Jesus reminds the disciples of their own frailty and imperfections.  While they will be given the authority to bind and loose as a consequence of their selection as apostles, they must never become arrogant in that role.  The Lord even makes it clearer asking them: “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?”  Clearly they (and we) must never forget that, not only have we sinned, but because we are held to a higher standard than those who do not know the Lord, our sins have a much greater weight when we come before Christ when he sits on the judgment seat.

 

Combining St. Paul’s divine compulsion with the Lord’s exhortation against arrogance flowing from our special friendship with Jesus, the model that best describes our evangelical role is one like the athlete- coach who, at the same time, must train for their own race while helping others by word and example, train for their races as well.

 

Our prayer today is that we become effective coaches.  We pray that though our words and example we will effectively serve our own divine compulsion to proclaim the Gospel and in doing so win the imperishable crown spoken of by St. Paul.

 

Pax

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[1] The picture is “Saint Peter Claver", Artist and Date are UNKNOWN

[2] S.S. Commemoratio

 

[4] See NAB footnote on Matthew 7:1