Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop, Doctor of the Church

“Saint John Chrysostom” 
Artist and date are UNKNOWN.

Proper for the Memorial of St. John Chrysostom [1]

Biographical information about St. John Chrysostom

Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]

Commentary:

Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 8:1b-7, 11-13

Commentary on 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13

Using the example of eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols as an example, St. Paul develops the communitarian view of the church at Corinth. Eating meat sacrificed to idols was sinful in the eyes of some of the community (presumably those who had come from backgrounds where this was taboo).  The higher Christian understanding is that God created food to nourish the body, and there was no dietary regulation that prevented or forbade the practice.  However, because doing this would bring psychological harm to a brother or sister, it should not be done.  This same issue is also taken up in Romans 14:1-15:6.

CCC: 1 Cor 8:10-13 2285; 1 Cor 8:12 1789

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24

R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Commentary on Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24

This song/prayer asks for guidance from the Holy Spirit. It recognizes that God’s spirit is in all his creation and his knowledge is omnipresent. The singer recognizes God's spirit is indwelling, actually creating man's own being.  The strophes conclude with the psalmist asking God to form his conscience, and lead him on the path of righteousness - a repentance-and-return sequence.

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Gospel: Luke 6:27-38

Commentary on Lk 6:27-38

This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel continues the Sermon on the Plain. In this section, Jesus extends the commandment to love one’s neighbor to include one’s enemy, breaking new ground in the interpretation of Mosaic Law. What follows is an extension of each of the laws governing hospitality and continues by extending even the judicial laws that govern dispute resolution. In the conclusion of this section, the Lord exhorts the disciples to embrace forgiveness, saying, “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

CCC: Lk 6:28 1669; Lk 6:31 1789, 1970; Lk 6:36 1458, 2842

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Reflection:

We have a fair notion of how Jesus wanted us to behave toward one another.  He tells us to love one another – that is the foundation.  Through his sermons and the way the fundamental understanding of the Great Commandment is applied by his Apostles, we see the practical lived faith we are called to.

The first reading is related to this lived sacrament of love.  St. Paul addresses an issue in the first reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians that has no practical bearing on our lived faith in the sense that we do not have a problem with going to the store and avoiding meat being sold there that had been taken from sacrificed animals.  That was the specific issue the Apostle was addressing.  What is important to us is the underlying moral argument he makes.

St. Paul does not tell the faith community not to eat this sacrificed meat because it violates either Mosaic Law or Christ’s commandments.  He tells them they should not do it because it is harmful to the sensibilities of some of their brothers and sisters for whom this practice was anathema.  The way the argument describes the relationship between those who have a greater understanding of the laws of Christ (relative to eating sacrificed meat) establishes a hierarchy of responsibility.  Those who have a greater understanding of Christ’s law of love have a greater responsibility to foster love and comfort in the community by insuring that, at least until a person can come to the same level of understanding as the more knowledgeable person, the one whose sensibilities or moral center would be damaged by a practice should be respected, and hurt or discomfort avoided.

It all fits together with the idea expressed by Jesus in his Sermon on the Plain relative to judgment of others. Suppose a member of our faith community finds some aspect of how we live to be uncomfortable,  for instance if we have a tradition of being very open about some aspect of our lives and a new member’s tradition has held that topic to be one not discussed.  Using first Jesus' corollary to the law of love, we should not judge that person (e.g. “Oh, he’s not intellectually mature.” Or “She’s such a prude.”)  Next we apply St. Paul’s moral argument and avoid that practice until such time as it is no longer offensive or injurious to our brother or sister.

We pray today that we become better at living the Christian life in all its fullness and be ever mindful of our imperative to love one another.

Pax

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[1] The picture used today is “Saint John Chrysostom” Artist and date are UNKNOWN.

[2] S.S. Commemoratio