First Reading Commentary
Saint Jerome describes the spirit that entered
into Ezekiel as a spirit of prophecy.
The name Ezekiel means “strength of God.”
“Son of man” is a familiar title in the
Gospels as Jesus took this title out of humility. No one gave Jesus this title; He called
Himself by these words to show that He was a humble Servant sent by the Almighty
as is Ezekiel who, in this Reading, prefigures Christ.
Sadly, the world still has those who are “hard
of face and obstinate of heart.” If and
when we meet up with individuals who fit this description, consider it a
blessing. We bear the name of “Christian”
which not only means that we are followers of Jesus Christ, it also means that
we must be Jesus Christ to everyone we meet.
We are all prophets when we have the opportunity to share the joy we
have and it is no accident when we are given those opportunities to
evangelize. Like Ezekiel, we have been
sent by God to share the Good News. And
we hope and pray that the words that God uses to speak through us as well as
the example we give from His Spirit dwelling within us will lead to the
conversion of others. We may never know
about any of the successes of our evangelization efforts; but at least those we
meet “shall know that a prophet has been among them.”
Second Reading Commentary
“A thorn in the flesh was given to me, an
angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.” These words are not meant to be taken
literally. The message that Saint Paul
is trying to convey is that his ministry has given him much trouble and
pain. Ancient scholars believed that
Paul was suffering from very painful headaches.
Saint John Chrysostom believes that Paul is referring to the opposition
he faced in his ministry and the “angel of Satan” would be Paul’s name for an
adversary. Other opinions suggest that
Paul is being constantly bombarded with temptations of the flesh which is being
permitted by God for Paul’s greater good.
One or all of these theories may be correct. Since Saint Paul’s words are metaphoric, it’s
difficult to know exactly what he meant.
What we do know is that Paul’s ministry was one of many emotional and
physical hardships.
“Three times I
begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me.” In this verse, the words “three times” are
also not meant to be interpreted literally.
It is signifying “many times.”
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power
is made perfect in weakness.” These
words may seem a bit awkward at first glance because we don’t usually think of
power and weakness as being in harmony.
The basic message here is to show that when we are at our weakest, it is
then that we will see the strength of God’s grace at work within us to sustain
us. When we feel weak and helpless, or
think there’s nowhere else to turn, that’s usually when we rely on or call upon
God the most. To try and understand this
more fully, all we need to do is look at the example of Jesus. When He was at His weakest moment, nailed to
the Cross, it was then that something of great power and strength was achieved,
the salvation of humanity.
Gospel Commentary
Whether or not to follow Jesus is only a
decision that we can make as individuals using our God given free will. Our friends and relatives can’t make that
decision for us. Not even God can make
that decision for us. Only we can decide
whether we are going to embrace His love and love Him in return, or reject Him.
In this Gospel we see Jesus rejected by “His
native place.” As a result, “He was not
able to perform any mighty deed there.”
The same is true for us. If we do
not embrace God’s love, it will be difficult for us to witness the mighty power
of God at work within us.
There is a purpose to everything that Jesus
did. Perhaps in this Gospel Jesus is
showing His apostles and us that discipleship will sometimes face rejection,
even among our friends and family. Also,
this rejection is preparing His disciples for the final rejection, when Jesus
is crucified. If we need to find comfort
when the world rejects us or if we lack courage for fear of rejection from
others because of our love for Jesus, remember the words of our Lord in John
16:33, “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered
the world.”
Isn’t there some level of trepidation in
the statement that Jesus “was amazed at their lack of faith?” Can our faith be
so lacking or non-existent that even Jesus Himself is scratching His Head? Does today’s highly secularized culture, our
moral relativistic society amaze Jesus?
And if so, what will be the cost?
