First Reading Commentary
This Reading makes it quite clear what the gift
Giver expects of those who are the recipients of His gifts. Fast-forward to the New Testament and recall
what Jesus said: “Much will be asked of the man to whom much has been given;
more will be expected of him because he was entrusted with more” (Luke 12:48).
Some soul searching may be needed to determine
if the gifts God has given to us are being used for His purpose. In other words: Am I using my gifts for the
Kingdom or for my own benefit; or am I not even making use of God’s gifts? If you’re truly uncertain about your gifts,
it may be helpful to ask someone close to you.
Among the many vocational stories, there are plenty in which someone
else has said to another: “I think you have the heart of a priest” – or – “you
should consider the diaconate.”
Sometimes a person’s talents are more recognizable through the eyes of
other people.
If Sacred Scripture is a part of your daily
life, then like the Prophet Ezekiel in this Reading, you are familiar with the
word of God, what God has to say. What a
great treasure to have in this world of mixed and often confusing messages
having an agenda attached.
The words “son of man” are quite familiar to
us. Jesus fulfilled these words and still
was held responsible willingly for our guilt because that unusual twist was
also part of God’s will because of His love for the guilty.
Second Reading Commentary
Saint Paul connects love with the
Commandments. In other words, where love
abounds, then there also is where the Commandments are being obeyed. Scholarly objections have been raised because
Saint Paul fails to mention love for God in conjunction with love for neighbor
as Jesus did (cf. Matthew 22:37-39). The best response to those objections is that
Paul equates love for God with love for neighbor; that is, love for God and
hatred for others are incompatible.
Saint John Chrysostom teaches that love for
neighbor is a debt we are always paying, and yet the debt always remains, and
is to be paid again.
Consider the “you shall not” Commandments which
Saint Paul mentions in this Reading.
They are abusive acts towards our fellow human beings; therefore they
are incongruous with love.
Gospel Commentary
“The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and
mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence;
it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship
and communion” (CCC 1829).
Censuring and publicly embarrassing someone is
not fraternal correction. Fraternal
correction is done out of love - love for God, and therefore love for the
offended and the offender. Fraternal
correction seeks the peace that only Christ can give and thus attempts to
resolve bitterness.
Saint Leo the Great, in his homily on the
Beatitudes, said: “Care of our neighbor is closely linked with love of
God. Christian man, recognize the great
worth of the wisdom that is yours.
Recognize too the discipline you must exercise, and the great prize you
are called to. Mercy demands that you be
merciful, righteousness that you be righteous, so that the Creator may be shown
forth in the creature and that, in the mirror of man’s heart as in the lines of
a portrait, the Image of God may be reflected.”
Saint Augustine teaches that “love is itself the
fulfillment of all our works. There is
the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we
shall find rest.”
Our modern day world of political correctness
and the new age teaching that there’s no such thing as sin may be cramping the
style of fraternal correction, but the popularity of a “sin does not exist”
philosophy doesn’t make it correct.
Jesus intimates here in this Gospel that He will
not always be physically walking among us in the world and therefore makes it
clear that the Church is the final authority.
As He no longer walks with us physically, He does, however, promise to
be present mystically where two or three gather in His Name. This may suggest the superiority of public
prayer over private prayer, namely, the Mass and the daily Office of the
Church. Jesus is saying that when we
gather together agreeing in His Name, our agreement also has the support of
heaven. Private prayer, however, is also
valuable and is to be commended, especially for seeking personal intimacy with
our Lord.
Where two or three or many are gathered, more
times than not, translates into “liturgy”.
The Church’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium clearly states that “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is
directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For
the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by
faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His
Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's supper.”
