Ang Bagong Magandang Balita Biblia

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Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:46:45 +0000

Concise Bible (Audio)

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:05:57 +0000

Introduction

Pentateuch

Introduction and Commentaries on 1 Timothy

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:06:52 +0000

What we have said in the Introduction to the First Letter to Timothy is equally suitable for this second letter. It is supposed to have been written by Paul from his prison in Rome, shortly before his death. There is no reason for doubting the authenticity of a few details that Paul gives on his situation while awaiting his sentence. As for the rest, both Paul and Timothy are only pseudonyms: the counsels and the warnings are actually those the unknown author wanted to give the ministers of the Church, some decades after the death of the apostle.

• 1.3 Fan into a flame the gift you received. See 1 Tim 4:14. Paul tries to give his own energy to Timothy and he reminds him of God’s love and promises.

The sound doctrine… the precious deposit… which you have heard from me (13-14): see 1 Tim 1:3. The doctrine of the faith cannot be altered, but neither can it be put in storage. It must be lived, which brings into play our creativity as well as that of the Holy Spirit that lets it be rediscovered each day.

He saved us and called us: see Eph 2:8-10.

He is capable of taking care of all I have entrusted to him (v. 12). These words invite us to remember the exact meaning of the word “faith.” In Hebrew, for the Old Testament, the word “faith” had the same root as “to be firm,” or “to lean on something.” In Greek, the word that has become “faith” signifies both the trust that could be had in a debtor, and the guarantee given to the creditor. So Paul considers all his apostolic life as the deposit he has placed in God’s hands. Like Paul a person of faith is not deceived by the mirages of a happy life but prefers to use his life in an often thankless labor and persevere as if he already saw what couldn’t yet be seen (Heb 11:27).

• 2.1 Entrust to reliable people (v. 2). We have seen in Paul’s first missions that he took care to establish elders in each community (Acts 14:23; see also Titus 1:6). They must be able to preserve the faith in full. We often give more importance to immediate effectiveness of our actions rather than to doctrinal exactitude. In the long run, there is never an error that is not paid for. Saint Irenaeus affirms that the primary mission of the Church is to maintain in the world a true knowledge of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. See however the com. on Galatians 2:5.

Then Paul invites Timothy to surrender completely, with the assurance that his efforts will be rewarded.

Be strong with the grace you have in Christ Jesus, Christ’s witness must be courageous and strong, as the messenger of the victorious Christ. His own conviction will convince others. He must avoid the many ways of wasting time and getting off track in his mission: idle conversations devoid of value. Things that do not promote a better service of God (1 Tim 1:4): false religious problems unrelated to real life.

No soldier gets involved (v. 4). It happened at times that Paul earned his living while preaching (2 Cor 11:9; 2 Thes 3:7), but now here the letter speaks for those who waste their time in working for a living when the community has the duty of seeing to their needs. For a minister of the Church, work can be a way of placing oneself in the world and in the midst of people; but it could also be a way of escaping the difficulties and humiliations of every apostolic task.

• 14. Return to the experiences of the apostolic worker. In time the converted are tested: some make progress and others are lost. The apostle should not be astonished: no fall, no scandal can shake the solid foundations laid by God (v. 19): the Church will never be defeated.

They hold that the resurrection has already taken place (v. 18). Faith in the resurrection was accepted with as much difficulty in those times as it is today, and many wanted to keep the word without being embarrassed by a God who shatters our way of thinking. Perhaps those named here held that a spiritual resurrection took place at baptism and there was nothing more to hope for after death. On this subject, see in the Gospel of John the precision given in 5:28 immediately following 5:25.

• 3.1 In the last days (v. 1): see 1 Tim 4:1. Even the presence of evil in the Church should not surprise us.

The paragraph 14-17 gives us in a few words a full message on biblical meditation: the Scriptures will give you wisdom (v. 15). Biblical meditation is the best means of making faith mature (15-17). When these lines were written Scripture was essentially the Old Testament, but already the Church possessed and considered as Scripture several Gospels and some of Paul’s letters.

Just before the mention of Scripture we read: Continue with what you have learned—knowing from whom you received it. “Tradition” means precisely what we receive from our elders. The reading of the Bible is inseparable from the “Tradition of the Apostles,” which is the “Tradition of the Church,” and it is a way of understanding the Bible, just as Jesus immediately after his resurrection opened to his apostles a new way of reading salvation history. This tradition is the second support of faith.

All Scripture is inspired by God (v. 16) and there we look for a message from God to his people rather than an occasion for personal speculation. The same Spirit that directs the Church has equally inspired the biblical authors.

For many years, we spoke of the ”inspiration” of the Bible, not so much to encourage the reading of it in the family or community, but to affirm the fact of it being without error. It was also because some people saw contradictions between Bible and science. These problems have partly disappeared. Each book is as the human authors wrote it, reflecting their culture and their limitations (before the coming of Christ, faith had not attained full maturity; before rational science, people could not express themselves according to scientific views). The entire book is also from God and every text is part of a definitive message. It is there we find the truth of God, and not in the exactitude of details and literary form, which we necessarily must adapt to our modern language.

Above all we must remember that the Word of God is the normal nourishment of faith. It is not only useful for teaching: Bible reading has the value of a sacrament for the faithful. No preaching, no catechism even though “biblical” can replace the frequent meditative reading of the word of God for the development of faith.

• 4.1 Preach the Word (v. 2): this is Paul’s last advice. It must be the first concern of the Church and of any church leader.

Paul knows that he will not be freed and that he will be condemned to death. He embraces his own sacrifice just as Jesus did.

We find the comparison of the soldier and the athlete that Paul liked so much. In those days athletes received a crown of laurels as a symbol of immortality: As for me the time of sacrifice has arrived, and the moment of my departure has come.

Pastoral Letters to Timothy and Titus

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:58:25 +0000

INTRODUCTION And COMMENTARIES

Cultural changes taking place in all areas of existence also affect the Church. In the beliefs and practices we have been taught, not all comes from Christ, and consequently, many things may change. There is nevertheless a risk of distorting authentic faith. Where then is the rule of faith, to which all our opinions must submit?

This problem already arose in the Church when in 64-67 A.D. Peter and Paul died as martyrs in Rome. The Church, especially in the West, no longer had these witnesses of Christ capable of proclaiming both his deeds and his words. It was as difficult for the Greeks to accept the Christian message as it was for the Jews, and even those of good will among the listeners understood the message—as we do today—through their own ways of thinking, distorting it in proportion to the prejudices of their time.

Then came an opportunity for people eager to discuss, to recount in a better way than did the apostles, even to say what they had not said, and some even took the liberty of teaching their own doctrine. How quickly the imitation of Christ could be replaced by theories and discourses on religion!

So it was that the successors of the apostles had to defend the doctrine they had received from them. At the same time they had to take care in the choice and in the formation of the ministers of the Church for these would have to keep the genuine message. Such are the concerns that we find in these letters to Timothy and Titus.

These letters of similar origin are entitled Paul’s letters. Both the form and content of these letters show that they are not from him. They must have been written in the pressure of circumstances we have just mentioned about 90-100 A.D. It was thought well to place this teaching of the Church under the authority of Paul and doubtless some more personal paragraphs written by him have been inserted: in several passages, we certainly find Paul’s counsels to Timothy and Titus or to other of his assistants.

These three letters of Timothy and Titus are called “pastoral letters” because they address Church shepherds. They truly deserve this name for still another reason that is not always perceived. They are addressed to Paul’s delegates who, although they did not enjoy the title of apostles, were like the itinerant ministers and had authority over the local churches. They are reminded of their missionary ideal for they had devoted their life to Christ and to preaching the Word. Yet at the same time they are ordered to watch over the Church local ministers. Whether they are bishops, elders or deacons, they were elected by the community and spent part of their time in leading and in teaching their brothers and sisters; they also celebrated the sacred sacraments of the Church, baptism, Eucharist and the anointing of the sick.

So we find here two kinds of ministries which complement one another to fulfill the pastoral duties. The first, of which Timothy and Titus are examples extends the mission of the apostles, follows the patterns of their consecrated life and enjoys apostolic authority. The second, trained themselves within the community which elected them. Today we would speak of lay ministers, for they go on belonging to their family and community, although they have been ordained by a laying on of hands and have been accepted or acknowledged by the apostolic authority. We shall strive to understand this complementarity because the subsequent evolution of Latin Church unified these very different ministries in the span of some centuries framing them into one hierarchical clergy. See on this point Num 4:1 and Heb 9:1. New Testament witnesses the different organizations of the early Church in the many cultural areas of Roman Empire. For a part it wanted to be and to remain the Church founded on the apostles, on the other hand, it took example of the Jewish communities with their elders. Afterwards the ministries would evolve or become fixed according to the needs and the social context.

• 1.3 In this first chapter we have a mixture of various topics: it practically repeats what Paul said in other letters where the commentaries have already been given.

We will note only what refers to false prophets. Since the apostles who had seen Christ were dead, some people forgot that all of faith is based on what Christ taught. Instead of reading and actually living the Gospel, certain people began to discuss and work out religious theories. See Introduction to Colossians.

The aim of our warning is love which comes from a pure mind (v. 5). Timothy must be firm in eliminating these discussions that weaken the Church and prevent development of the love that saves people. Even bloody wars came out of sterile religious arguments. The center of the paragraph is doubtless verse 15: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The new masters remain with their theories instead of facing the reality of sin. It is the reality of our sin that makes the grace of God a grace, and our salvation a true salvation.

• 2.1 Heading the rules for every category of believers, we find rules for the community assemblies with two outstanding points:

– praying for rulers;

– the behavior of women in church.

I urge that petitions be made (v. 1). Paul wants Christians to be in solidarity with their compatriots, loyal toward their nation and praying for them. In spite of its sins and superstitions, the pagan world was religious. Religion accompanied their every action. This explains why, some years later, Christians were persecuted as rebels and traitors because they did not worship the emperor, nor his gods. Perhaps this insistence on prayer for rulers is due to the fact that the paragraph was written when there already was some suspicion about Christians: it was necessary to remove these suspicions.

Faithfulness to Christ does not prevent loyalty to the nation unless the nation becomes an idol, and this happens when, in the name of the nation, people are asked to obey its rulers blindly. We cannot give up criticizing their errors, nor stop considering as our brothers and sisters those who do not agree with us.

We should pray for rulers. Does that mean that we cannot look for more honest and better rulers? Of course, we can: see Romans 13.

Verses 9-14 concern women, and to understand why the letter is so strict, we must recall that there was a lot of talk about freedom in the Church, and there were abuses.

On the other hand, we always have a hard time accepting the demands of the Gospel when society teaches us something different. Jesus’ attitude regarding women was revolutionary and liberating, and at the beginning, the Church followed his example (see 1 Cor 7). Before long, they went back to the usual way of giving a very limited place in society to women and that applied also in their religious assemblies.

In the whole history of the Church there was a great respect for the dignity of women and there were many initiatives favoring them; yet there were few periods when women enjoyed equality with men. In many places women were more emancipated during the Middle Ages than closer to our times, in the 19th century. Likewise, in urban societies dealing with business, in the world and in the Church, women occupied a place very different from that granted them in more closed societies.

In fact, the Church alone does not change the world and society until people have learned to know the human reality better.

This passage, reminding us of 1 Cor 11:1-10 and 14:34, opposes women’s emancipation with the same biblical arguments commonly used by the Jewish masters.

God wants all to be saved. Paul repeats in his own way the passage from the last words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel: the Gospel must be preached to everyone, to all the nations. Perhaps only a minority will believe but this evangelization is necessary so that all humanity may reach the goal fixed by God.

• 3.1 Here Paul deals with leaders, bishops and deacons (see commentary on Titus 1:6 and Phil 1:1).

• 14. This short paragraph reminds us that, if indeed we are in charge of the Church of God, we are neither its founders nor its masters. The Church was born through a merciful intervention of God, when he decided that his Son should identify with the human race, as is expressed in this short poem.

Here we use divine blessing (v. 16) for a word that we translated elsewhere as “piety” or “religion” (see 2:2; 4:7; 6:3; 5, 6; 2 Tim 3:5 and Titus 1:1). In those years, the word was mostly used to mean a loving attitude toward the Father and neighbors, characteristic of true believers who simply imitate God’s example.

The Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth. We must understand this phrase as referring to the concepts of that time: from above, from a world in which everything is truth, God lowers his Truth to the earth, as a column or a visible sign on which we can lean. In spite of all the infidelities of the Church, God uses it to preserve true knowledge of the Father, the Son and the Spirit in the world. Without this knowledge, people cannot be free, nor can humanity reach its maturity.

• 4.1 After the death of the apostles, new masters who tamper with the faith appear in the Church.

One of the numerous errors of these people is to despise all that comes from the body: they condemn marriage, forbid meat and wine. Concerning marriage, see the Introduction to Colossians. For those who said matter comes from evil powers whereas souls come from God who is good, having children was to imprison in an evil body souls which later would have to be saved. This is why they condemned, not sexual relations but marriage and procreation. In this contempt of the body and of a nature created by God, there is nothing Christian (see Col 2:23).

In the last days (v. 1): these are the days beginning with Jesus’ resurrection and stretching to his second coming (Heb 1:2; James 5:3).

The Spirit tells us clearly. The prophets of the Church often predicted that people would come to preach their own theories, and not authentic faith.

The believers receive with thanksgiving. From the beginning, it was the custom in Christian families to give thanks to God at the family meal.

Train yourself in godliness (v. 7). Here we have another danger. Contrary to teachers who despise life and want us to live as strange characters, there are others who are totally absorbed in external things. In the Greco-Roman world there was much enthusiasm for sports and races. Without despising the body we are asked to check if we give each part the importance it deserves and the time corresponding to it.

• 11. Faced with all these false teachers, Timothy must be an example of a true apostle.

Let no one reproach you on account of your youth. Usually, in the Christian communities and in the Jewish ones, the leaders were older men. This is why they were called “elders“ or “presbyters” (which means the same thing). Timothy, who is visiting the church on behalf of Paul, has authority over these elders, even though he is much younger than they are. The example of his sincere faith and profound knowledge of the Bible will be his strength.

Do not neglect the spiritual gift (v. 14). If someone was named to a ministry or an official position in the church, this was considered as a spiritual gift: for example, presbyters, deacons, bishops, prophets. While other gifts, such as healing the sick, came directly from the Holy Spirit, ministries were received through a laying on of hands. An apostle or a prophet would lay his hands on the candidate to transfer to him the authority that he had received in a similar way. Thus, in the Church, every leader receives his authority from Christ through a succession of people going back to the apostles.

On this occasion the prophets present would also address the candidate with exhortations and warnings (see 1:18).

Devote yourself to reading, preaching and teaching until I come. This counsel is always valid. To be steadfast in reading and study is what costs most in the majority of liberal professions. Very few people are courageous enough to persevere in study once they have passed their examinations. This is so, even in the Church. The “pastors,” clergy and lay, are constantly tempted in thinking such and such an activity is pastorally useful, that leisure is “relaxing” even at the cost of postponing study and meditation on the Word. The Church is always lacking people able to express their faith creatively – a gift that springs from spiritual knowledge and habitual contact with the Word of God: smiles, goodwill and psychology cannot replace this charism.

• 5.1 From the beginning, women had their own unique role in the Church. Some of them, called widows occupied an official position.

Paul sees three kinds of widows: some did not need help from the Church because they had relatives; others did need Church assistance. Finally, there were some, with or without the help of the Church, who were in charge of certain functions.

They deserve condemnation… (v. 12). This means that by leaving her position and marrying, the “widow” of the third category broke a commitment she had made publicly. The “widows” were dedicated to the service of Christ in the same way as religious women of today.

A true widow is she who has set her hope on God. We should read what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 concerning the greater freedom celibates have to serve the Lord. Every baptized person is called to belong totally to Christ. If, through circumstances of life, we are alone again and free from family responsibilities, this may be an invitation from God to dedicate ourselves completely to the service of the Church and to constant prayer.

If today retired Christians looked into their lives in the light of God’s presence, the Church would have more leaders and missionaries than are necessary.

• 17. Paul speaks again of the elders or “presbyters” who are in charge of the local community. Paul wants the community to help its leaders spiritually and financially.

We have already noted that the elders who were in charge of the community and who presided at the Eucharist were chosen from the most esteemed believers. This paragraph shows that the primary service expected from them was the preaching of the Word.

They deserve double compensation. It is rather astonishing to see that in many parishes the council consists of more lay people competent in social or material matters than persons of the Word, learned or prophetic, capable of giving life to the community.

They must fulfill their duties. Rebuke him in the presence of the community as a warning to the rest: the first Christians were no angels. Sometimes their enthusiastic and sincere faith needed strong discipline in order for them to remain faithful to their commitments. Besides when have leaders of communities not caused problems?

In 5:18 note the quotation of the Gospel: “the worker deserves his wages” (Lk 10:7). This passage shows us that when this letter was written, towards the year 90, the Gospels were already considered “Scripture.”

At the beginning and end of the chapter, the author insists on faithfulness to tradition. Faith is not a doctrine that can be adapted to one’s tastes. Leaders are required to have a respectful and humble attitude towards this treasure entrusted to them to be transmitted to others. We can already see two faults:

– instead of deepening faith, some multiply words;

– some replace surrender to God’s Word with a critical attitude that attempts to judge faith and decide if it agrees with their own ideas.

Money is mentioned twice (6:10 and 6:17-19). After the first years of enthusiastic faith, the Church finds that, even for believers, everything is lost when love for money persists. That is the drama in certain countries where solid Christian groups have been caught up with the best of society in the pursuit of money: faith continues to be important for them but this faith only motivates fidelity to religious practice. Money that has become our security lessens our trust in God (6:10) and isolates us from others.

The pastors of the Church should be the most aware of the danger (6:11). Salvation for them will be to place themselves in the less secure areas of life and society, where an act of faith is constantly necessary to overcome difficulties and joyously accept sacrifices (v. 12). It is not in seeking first of all our personal fulfillment that we become God’s agent and a witness of Christ, as he himself has been the witness of the Father (6:13).

Paul calls upon Timothy to avoid all those dangers and remain true to faith and free from greed. By doing so, he will be “a man of God,” a witness of Christ.

Commentaries on 2 Thessalonians

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:54:31 +0000

The First Letter to the Thessalonians taught us the importance of looking forward to the coming of Christ in Paul’s preaching.

The hope for the Day of Christ was a powerful incentive for preserving the faith of the first Christians. Yet it could lead to an unhealthy nervousness. The Church of Thessalonica was the first example of those minorities and persecuted groups in whom the expectation of the end of the world distorts the normal development of Christian life.

In this letter, written a few months after the first one, Paul tries to reassure the community.

• 1.1 We again encounter the same ideas we have explained in 1 Thessalonians. A persecuted community. The basis of Christian life: faith, hope (or endurance), love. The day of Christ.

• 6. When the apostles preached to the pagans, they insisted on the judgment of God (Rom 1:18; Acts 17:31). In fact, these pagans never thought they would be judged at the end of their lives. For almost a century there has been a tendency among us Christians not to mention judgment in reaction to several centuries when it was over emphasized and with it the fear of punishment. Actually, the evangelization of modern pagans, in whom conscience has not even been awakened in the family, demands that it be spoken of as in Paul’s time.

To know that good and evil exist, that life prepares for definitive salvation (or the loss of it) and that God will judge us is an essential basis for Christian life. It is precisely from this truth that many turn away, saying for example that God is all-love, or imagining successive existences where we can catch up for our mistakes.

Indeed it is just that God repays with affliction. Let us not forget that the letters to the Thessalonians are the earliest of Paul’s letters. Even if it was his duty to remind them of the judgment, as did the prophets, and Jesus himself—certainly he had not yet totally purified his thirst for justice of every trace of violence. This violence against the wicked has been (and still is in many religions) a support for faith, but Jesus has invited us to get rid of it (Mt 13:29).

Coming from heaven… he will do justice. In the early years of the apostles, it was believed that the Day of the Lord would soon come and judgment (the Last Judgment) would inaugurate the reign of God the Father (1 Cor 15:24). We now suppose—perhaps mistakenly—that it is not imminent, and we prefer to think of judgment as coming at the death of each one: individual judgment.

• 2.1 Do not be alarmed. What happens in Thessalonica is what frequently occurs in a persecuted community: people tend to withdraw from real life. There are rumors that the Lord’s coming is imminent and hope verges on hysteria. This is why Paul reminds them of certain truths, some of which are not new, for the Old Testament had more than once spoken of crises that would precede the Judgment. We cannot take as literally true all that the prophets have said on this subject, for they spoke with images proper to their time. They did agree in announcing difficult times for believers and almost a triumph, to begin with, for God’s enemies. Jesus did not disagree.

The apostasy must come first. Before Christ’s return, there must be a “general apostasy,” or a worldwide religious crisis. An “antichrist” must come. It is true that there are antichrists in all times (see 1 Jn 2:18). Yet, at the end, there will be a more typical antichrist than all the previous ones. Christ will return in glory at the time the Church seems crushed.

You know what prevents him (v. 6). For us, this phrase is obscure. For Paul the apostasy is that of the nations already converted to the Gospel and the force of evil was already at work within them (v. 7). It is probable that Paul follows the thinking of the “apocalyptic” authors (some of their works are part of the Bible, among others Ezekiel 38–39 and Daniel 2–10). Everything happens at the time fixed by God and every person in history lasts the time needed to carry out the good and the evil that he has within himself.

Therefore, there cannot be apostasy or antichrist as long as two preceding events have not taken place: the Gospel has to be proclaimed to all the nations (Mk 13:10), and judgment passed on the Jewish nation. The fact that these events have not been realized, especially the second (1 Thes 2:16), is perhaps for Paul the reason why the coming of the antichrist is not imminent.

Paul had no idea that the time of the nations mentioned in Luke (21:24) would last for so many centuries; for him, it was a matter of years. Let us keep in mind his way of foreseeing the end of the world. All that is in human history must mature; history will end with a last adventure inspired by diabolical pride; faith or the rejection of the Gospel will be at the heart of the worldwide confrontation.

God will send them the power of delusion. Once again we have the Hebrew turn of phrase that should be translated: God will allow the forces of deceit to act. The same people who do not take into account decisive arguments in favor of the faith, later follow doctrines and opinions without foundation.

Paul invites the Church, as he did in 1 Thessalonians, to follow his instructions and rules. He is more severe in insisting that they have an obligation to work: if everybody works, their faith will be more peaceful.

• 13. Note the word traditions used by Paul. The traditions are the customs, rites and teachings that people pass down from one generation to another. They are also the usages and lifestyles which are adopted upon joining a community. Jesus condemned the exaggerated importance the Pharisees gave to their own traditions, to the point that they prevailed over God’s commandments (see Mk 7:5). Yet Jesus himself, while he was with his apostles, taught them a certain way of praying, of doing, and of living in fellowship. It is in this sense that Paul here speaks of traditions: see Traditions and Tradition in the commentary on Mark 7:1.

Commentaries on 1 Thessalonians

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:31:03 +0000

In the year 50, Paul arrived in Thessalonica, a major city and the capital of the province of Macedonia (see Acts 17:1). Here, after being rejected by the Jews, he addressed his preaching to the pagans and succeeded in forming a community. After barely three months, a riot caused by the Jews forced him to leave.

What is going to happen to these recent converts to whom Paul taught the mere basics of Christian life?

Paul is quite concerned, so he sends Timothy to see them and to strengthen their church. Timothy comes back with an optimistic report and Paul, reassured, sends this letter at the beginning of 51.

This is the oldest writing of the New Testament.

• 1.1 Faith, endurance, love. For us, sometimes hope (or: endurance) goes unnoticed between faith and love. For Paul it has two important meanings:

– Those who hope bear trials and persecutions with patience and perseverance. That is why Paul speaks of faith, perseverance and love. As we know from the Gospel, hope is not an easy optimism; it is the capacity to endure when faced with trials.

y”>– The person with hope looks forward to the glorious coming of Christ who will judge this world and take us to the next one. He frees us from impending punishment. In those years, all believers were convinced that judgment was imminent and that they would witness Christ’s coming.

The Gospel we brought you was such not only in words (v. 5). There were many signs, miracles and other manifestations in Thessalonica. Perhaps God increased the signs in view of the coming persecution; since very soon there would not be many with adequate formation to orient the community. In fact the Gospel cannot be proclaimed without God doing something to confirm it (Mk 16:17). Jesus criticized those who came to him to see miracles, but he performed miracles throughout his ministry. Let us not say: “I do not need miracles to believe.” Human beings as we are, we will have quite a different enthusiasm if we see that God is beside us, doing the incredible to confirm his word.

• 2.1 As a nursing mother who feeds and cuddles her baby (v. 7): Paul’s tenderness. Paul recalls the work and energy he spent to convince, to call each one personally. The conversion of a single person demands perseverance, weariness and struggles for the

All the Christians of Paul’s time know that the mother Church in Jerusalem has been the first to suffer heavy persecution. For the Thessalonians, it was also an honor to have remained

Some people will find Paul’s words concerning the Jews harsh and exaggerated: It is obvious that verses 15-16 do not refer to all the Jews or to the Jewish people of future time. Paul means those Jews and Judeo-Christians who persecute him from city to city. The divine sentence condemning them has already been pronounced yet they reflect his experience, verified in Acts 15–28.

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• 3.1 May the Lord increase more and more your love for each other and for all people (v. 12). Love manifests itself first within the community and then it must be expanded to all people.

Note also Paul’s constant preoccupation: his apostolic mission does not allow him to remain in any community. He is always moving, leaving his work unfinished, but he entrusts his converts to the grace of God that does not suppress the freedom of the recent converts nor the work of the Tempter in the world.

You know that such is our destiny (v. 3). There is no church, nor Christian life, without trials and persecutions.

• 4.1 If we have given ourselves to Christ, that should surely make our life different from what we lived before. The Jews who accepted baptism had a solid moral basis in the laws of the Old Testament. On the other hand, the pagans had only the moral laws observed in their society. Chastity, among others, was completely foreign to them. They considered occasional sexual relationships a necessity of nature, having nothing to do with moral values.

Paul reacts strongly: The will of God for you is to become holy and not to have unlawful sex. Facing what humans consider demands of nature, are other demands due simply to the fact that God has called us and put us on the path to divinization (Paul says: sanctification). Paul will take up the same argument in other words in 1 Cor 6:12-20. Here in verses 4-8, Paul is certainly thinking of adultery and relationships with prostitutes. If he were living in our social context, he would surely include sexual freedom among youth.

Paul never ceases telling us we are free. He passes over liturgical rules, customs proper to Jewish people—reminders of the past—all that kept believers in a religion of obedience to laws. He reaffirms fundamental moral rules that are valid at all times and in all places, especially when one has entered through the Gospel the age of spiritual maturity.

• 13. Lest you grieve as do those who have no hope. The Thessalonian community is made up of Christians who are all recent converts with little experience. For years they had accepted the fate of being born to die. Now, on the contrary, they awaken each day with the assurance of overcoming death: Christ will come soon and take them to the heavenly Kingdom. They are grieved nevertheless over their dead relatives whom Christ will not be able to save. This is what they thought because Greek culture had difficulties believing in a resurrection of the dead.

Those who are already asleep. Those who have died are not dead, but they are asleep, waiting for the time of the resurrection, the time of rising as new persons transformed by Christ: we will all be transformed. The word “cemetery” comes from a word meaning sleeping place.

God will bring them together with Jesus. Paul supposes that he and his readers will be alive when Christ returns and he describes the event according to the cultural expressions of the time. Let us not forget that up to the time of Galileo, everyone thought that heaven had its place in the universe, very high above and that God, although a spirit, was in some way present there.

We will be with the Lord forever. That is essential and always true even if it does not mean that Jesus will come on a beautiful cloud to the sound of heavenly trumpets. We already have some experience of the Lord’s presence in our earthly life, but then there will be nothing but this presence and this joy.

This brief message of hope leaves obscure essential questions concerning the resurrection of the dead. Paul will fully deal with this subject later on in 1 Cor 15. There he will show that resurrection is first a transformation of our whole being through the energies flowing from the resurrected Christ.

Comfort one another. The way of celebrating funerals in the Church must comfort the dead person’s relatives and strengthen their faith in the resurrection. There is no room for expressions of despair which Jesus himself scorned (see Mk 5:40): these are peculiar to people who consider the separation to be final. A funeral mass without any spectacular display, when the fervent prayer of the community is experienced, produces a great impact on people who are indifferent.

Paul then gives a warning he will repeat at the end of this letter (5:14): all should work. The community is disturbed by certain believers more inclined to attract attention with an enthusiastic show of faith rather than work; they discredit the Church in the eyes of pagans. Paul, the good Jew and Pharisee he was, could earn his own living by manual labor. He would not have understood how a believer could be without some qualification and unable to find an outlet, be it well or poorly considered and paid.

• 5.1 Christ comes at night and believers are people of the light. These words are rich in meaning. Those who follow their evil desires are people of darkness, hiding to do evil. While children of the light are beyond reproach, transparent before God and with nothing to hide from him. The unbeliever sleeps and is off-guard while the believer keeps watch and stays awake: he likes to pray all night long until dawn as if waiting for the day to welcome Christ. As for those who have died, they are not dead: they are only “asleep,” ready to rise when the Lord comes.

Encourage one another and build up one another (v. 11). In this the Church is seen as the true community needed by believers so they can grow in faith and overcome trials. In every difficulty, the help of the community will be the proof that we are surrounded by the love of God and of Christ, as was said in the first line of the letter.

According to verse 12, after only three months of evangelization this community already had leaders

• 19. Do not quench the Spirit (v. 19). A community such as this with few traditions and written instructions, depended on the intervention of the Spirit. Among these Christians there were some gifted with the charism of prophets: they would receive their communications during the Eucharistic assemblies. That is why Paul asks to profit by these spiritual messages, but not without first examining them as he will remind them in 1 Cor 14. This is a delicate situation: the community is subject to the Spirit who speaks through the prophet, but it must—and its leaders must—judge if it is truly the Spirit of God speaking.

May you be completely blameless in spirit, soul and body (v. 23). Neither the Jews nor the majority of Greeks would have agreed with our definition of the human: body and soul. They spoke at the same time of the soul that gives life to the body and deals with material activities, and of the spirit that is capable of truth and justice.

Paul’s way of speaking, like the great spiritual Christians, shares this conception. When Paul speaks of the deep life of believers, he does not use the word soul but spirit. We do not face God as we do in facing an interlocutor and look at each other from the exterior: to understand better our relationship with God, through the Spirit we must think of what unites beings who love each other and in some way live in one another.

According to the Bible, God’s Spirit can be omnipresent, insinuate itself, adapt itself, become our spirit without ceasing to be itself. Our spirit is not a part of ourselves, it is us, and it is at the same time our access to God. Our soul expresses itself in different ways, for example in dreams. We only discover our spirit in the measure of our experience of God. Only when we see God shall we truly know what and who we are.

2 Thessalonians 3

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:21:36 +0000

3 1 Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the Word of God may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere as it was with you. 2 May God guard us from wicked and evil people, since not everyone has faith. 3 The Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and keep you safe from the Evil One. 4 Besides, we have in the Lord this confidence that you are doing and will continue to do what we order you. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Let everyone work

6 We command you, beloved, to stay away from believers who are living in idleness contrary to the traditions we passed on to you. 7 You know how you ought to follow our example: we worked while we were with you. 8 Day and night we labored and toiled so as not to be a burden to any of you. 9 We had the right to act otherwise, but we wanted to give you an example.

10 Besides, while we were with you, we said clearly: If anyone is not willing to work, neither should that one eat. 11 However we heard that some among you live in idleness—busybodies, doing no work. 12 In the name of Christ Jesus our Lord we command these people to work and earn their own living. 13 And you, brothers and sisters, do not weary in doing what is right.

14 If someone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note and do not have anything to do with him, so that he may be ashamed.

15 However, do not treat him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

16 May the Lord of peace give you his peace at all times and in every way. May the Lord be with you all.

17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is my signature in all my letters. This is how I write.

18 May the grace of Christ Jesus our Lord be with you.

2 Thessalonians 2

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:20:23 +0000

2 • 1 Brothers and sisters, let us speak about the coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and our gathering to meet him. 2 Do not be easily unsettled. Do not be alarmed by what a prophet says or by any report, or by some letter said to be ours, saying the day of the Lord is at hand.

3 Do not let yourselves be deceived in any way. Apostasy must come first, when the man of Sin will appear, 4 that instrument of evil who opposes and defiles whatever is considered divine and holy, even to the point of sitting in the temple of God and claiming to be God.

5 Do you not remember I spoke of it when I was still with you? 6 But you also know what prevents him from appearing until his due time. 7 The mystery of sin is already at work, but the one who restrains it at present has to be taken away. 8 Then the wicked one will appear, whom the Lord is to sweep away with the breath of his mouth and destroy in the splendor of his coming. 9 This lawless one will appear with the power of Satan, performing miracles and wonderful signs at the service of deception. 10 All the deceits of evil will then be used for the ruin of those who refused to love truth and be saved. 11 This is why God will send them the power of delusion, that they may believe what is false. 12 So all those who chose wickedness instead of believing the truth will be condemned.

Persevere in faith

• 13 But we have to give thanks for you at all times, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. For God chose you from the beginning to be saved through true faith and to be made holy by the Spirit. 14 To this end he called you through the gospel we preach, for he willed you to share the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord.

15 Because of that, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions that we taught you by word or by letter. 16 May Christ Jesus our Lord who has loved us, may God our Father, who in his mercy gives us everlasting comfort and true hope, strengthen you. 17 May he encourage your hearts and make you steadfast in every good work and word.

2 Thessalonians 1

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:19:10 +0000

1 • 1 From Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians which is in God our Father and in Christ Jesus, the Lord.

2 May grace and peace be yours from God the Father and Christ Jesus, the Lord.

3 Brothers and sisters, we should give thanks to God at all times for you. It is fitting to do so, for your faith is growing and your love for one another increasing. 4 We take pride in you among the churches of God because of your endurance and your faith in the midst of persecution and sufferings. 5 In this the just judgment of God may be seen; for you must show yourselves worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are now suffering.

The judgment and the coming of Christ

• 6 Indeed, it is just that God repays with affliction those who persecute you, 7 but to you who suffer, he will grant rest with us when the Lord Jesus will be shown in his Glory, coming from heaven and surrounded by his court of angels. 8 Then with flaming fire will be punished those who do not recognize God and do not obey the Gospel of Jesus, our Lord.

9 They will be sent to eternal damnation far away from the face of the Lord and his mighty glory. 10 On that day the Lord will be glorified in the midst of his saints, and reveal his wonders through those who believe in him, that is through you who have received our testimony.

11 This is why we constantly pray for you; may our God make you worthy of his calling. May he, by his power, fulfill your good purposes and your work prompted by faith. 12 In that way, the name of Jesus our Lord will be glorified through you, and you through him, according to the loving plan of God and of Christ Jesus the Lord.

1 THESSALONIANS 5

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:17:51 +0000

You are citizens of the light

5 • 1 You do not need anyone to write to you about the delay and the appointed time for these events. 2 You know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When people feel secure and at peace, the disaster will suddenly come upon them as the birth pangs of a woman in labor, and they will not escape.

4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness; so that day will not surprise you like a thief. 5 All of you are citizens of the light and the day; we do not belong to night and darkness. 6 Let us not, therefore, sleep as others do, but remain alert and sober.

7 Those who sleep, go to sleep at night, and those who drink, get drunk at night. 8 Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, let us put on the breastplate of faith and love, and let the hope of salvation be our helmet. 9 For God has not willed us to be condemned but to win salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord. 10 He died for us so that we might enter into life with him, whether we are still awake or already asleep. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, as you are doing now.

12 Brothers and sisters, I want you to be thankful to those who labor among you, who lead you in the way of the Lord and also reprimand you. 13 Esteem them highly and love them for what they are doing. Live at peace among yourselves.

14 We urge you to warn the idle, encourage those who feel discouraged, sustain the weak, have patience with everyone. 15 See that no one repays evil for evil, but try to do good, whether among yourselves or towards others.

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing 18 and give thanks to God at every moment. This is the will of God, your vocation as Christians.

• 19 Do not quench the Spirit, 20 do not despise the prophets’ warnings. 21 Put everything to the test and hold fast to what is good. 22 Avoid evil, wherever it may be.

23 May the God of Peace make you holy and bring you to perfection. May you be completely blameless, in spirit, soul and body, till the coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord; 24 he who called you is faithful and will do it.

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 I order you in the name of the Lord that this letter be read to all of them.

28 May the grace of Christ Jesus our Lord be with you.

1 THESSALONIANS 4

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:16:31 +0000

A call to a life of purity and work

4 • 1 For the rest, brothers, we ask you in the name of Jesus, the Lord, and we urge you to live in a way that pleases God, just as you have learned from us. This you do, but try to do still more. 2 You know the instructions we gave you on behalf of the Lord Jesus: 3 the will of God for you is to become holy and not to have unlawful sex.

4 Let each of you behave towards his wife as a holy and respectful husband, 5 rather than being led by lust, as are pagans who do not know God. 6 In this matter, let no one offend or wrong a brother. The Lord will do justice in all these things, as we have warned and shown you. 7 God has called us to live, not in impurity but in holiness, 8 and those who do not heed this instruction disobey, not a human, but God himself who gives you his Holy Spirit.

9 Regarding mutual love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because God himself taught you how to love one another. 10 You already practice it with all the brothers and sisters of Macedonia, but I invite you to do more. 11 Consider how important it is to live quietly without bothering others, to mind your own business, and work with your hands, as we have charged you. 12 In obeying these rules you will win the respect of outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Do not grieve as others do

• 13 Brothers and sisters, we want you not to be mistaken about those who are already asleep, lest you grieve as do those who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose; it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus. God will bring them together with Jesus and for his sake.

15 By the same word of the Lord we assert this: those of us who are to be alive at the Lord’s coming will not go ahead of those who are already asleep. 16 When the command by the archangel’s voice is given, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, while the divine trumpet call is sounding. Then those who have died in the Lord will rise first; 17 as for us who are still alive, we will be brought along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the celestial world. And we will be with the Lord forever.

18 So, then comfort one another with these words.

1 THESSALONIANS 3

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:15:21 +0000

Paul’s concern

3 • 1 As I could no longer bear it, I decided to go alone to Athens, 2 and send you Timothy, our brother and co-worker of God in the Gospel of Christ. I wanted him to encourage you in the faith and strengthen you 3 so that none of you might turn back because of the trials you are now enduring. You know that such is our destiny. 4 I warned you of this when I was there: “We shall have to face persecution”; and so it was, as you have seen. 5 Therefore I could not stand it any longer and sent Timothy to appraise your faith and see if the Tempter had tempted you and made our work useless.

6 But now Timothy has just returned with good news of your faith and love. He told us that you remember us kindly and that you long to see us as much as we long to see you. 7 What a consolation for us, brothers and sisters, in the midst of our troubles and trials, this faith of yours! 8 It is a breath of life for us when you stand firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for all the joy that we feel before God because of you? 10 Day and night we beg of him to let us see you again, that we may complete the instruction of the believers.

11 May God our Father and Jesus our Lord prepare the way for us to visit you. 12 May the Lord increase more and more your love for each other and for all people, as he increases our love for you. 13 May he strengthen you internally to be holy and blameless before God, our Father, on the day that Jesus, our Lord, will come with all his saints.

1 THESSALONIANS 2

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:14:12 +0000

The beginning of the Church of Thessalonica

2 • 1 You well know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not in vain. 2 We had been ill-treated and insulted in Philippi but, trusting in our God, we dared announce to you the message of God, and face fresh opposition. 3 Our warnings did not conceal any error or impure motive, nor did we deceive anyone. 4 But as God had entrusted his Gospel to us as to faithful ministers, we were anxious to please God who sees the heart, rather than human beings. 5 We never pleased you with flattery, as you know, nor did we try to earn money, as God knows. 6 We did not try to make a name for ourselves among people, either with you or anybody else, although we were messengers of Christ and could have made our weight felt.

7 On the contrary, we were gentle with you, as a nursing mother who feeds and cuddles her baby. 8 And so great is our concern that we are ready to give you, as well as the Gospel, even our very lives, for you have become very dear to us.

9 Remember our labor and toil; when we preached the Gospel, we worked day and night so as not to be a burden to you. 10 You are witnesses with God that we were holy, just and blameless toward all of you who now believe. 11 We warned each of you as a father warns his children; 12 we encouraged you and urged you to adopt a way of life worthy of God who calls you to share his own glory and kingdom.

13 This is why we never cease giving thanks to God for, on receiving our message, you accepted it, not as human teaching, but as the word of God. That is what it really is, and as such it is at work in you who believe.

14 Brothers and sisters, you followed the example of the churches of God in Judea, churches of Christ Jesus. For you suffered from your compatriots the same trials they suffered from the Jews, 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and who persecute us. They displease God and harm all people 16 when they prevent us from speaking to the pagans and trying to save them. By doing so they are heaping up their sins, but now Judgment is coming upon them.

17 We are for a time deprived of your presence, but not in our heart, and we eagerly long to see you. 18 For we have wanted to visit you, and I, Paul, more than once; but Satan prevented us. 19 In fact, who but you are our hope and our joy? Who but you will be our glorious crown before Jesus, our Lord, when he returns? 20 Yes, indeed, you are our glory and our joy.

1 THESSALONIANS 1

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:02:35 +0000

1 • 1 From Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy to the church of Thessalonica which is in God the Father and in Christ Jesus, the Lord.

May the peace and grace of God be with you.

2 We give thanks to God at all times for you and remember you in our prayers. 3 We constantly recall before God our Father the work of your faith, the labors of your love and your endurance in waiting for Christ Jesus our Lord.

4 We remember, brothers and sisters, the circumstances of your being called. 5 The gospel we brought you was such not only in words. Miracles, Holy Spirit and plenty of everything were given to you. You also know how we dealt with you for your sake.

6 In return, you became followers of us and of the Lord when, on receiving the word, you experienced the joy of the Holy Spirit in the midst of great opposition. 7 And you became a model for the faithful of Macedonia and Achaia, 8 since from you the word of the Lord spread to Macedonia and Achaia, and still farther. The faith you have in God has become news in so many places that we need say no more about it. 9 Others tell of how you welcome us and turned from idols to the Lord. For you serve the living and true God, 10 and you wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who frees us from impending trial.

PHILEMON 1

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:00:18 +0000

1 From Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy to Philemon, our friend and fellow worker, 2 to our dear sister Apphia, to Archippus faithful companion in our soldiering, and to all the Church gathered in your house.

3 Grace and peace be with you from God the Father and Jesus Christ the Lord.

4 I never cease to give thanks to my God when I remember you in my prayers, 5 for I hear of your love and faith towards the Lord and all the holy ones. 6 And I pray that the sharing of your faith may make known all the good that is ours in Christ. 7 I had great satisfaction and comfort on hearing of your charity, because the hearts of the saints have been cheered by you, brother.

8 Because of this, although in Christ I have the freedom to command what you should do, 9 yet I prefer to request you in love. The one talking is Paul, the old man, now prisoner for Christ. 10 And my request is on behalf of Onesimus, whose father I have become while I was in prison.

11 This Onesimus has not been helpful to you, but now he will be helpful both to you and to me. 12 In returning him to you, I am sending you my own heart. 13 I would have liked to keep him at my side, to serve me on your behalf while I am in prison for the Gospel, 14 but I did not want to do anything without your agreement, nor impose a good deed upon you without your free consent.

15 Perhaps Onesimus has been parted from you for a while so that you may have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave. For he is a very dear brother to me, and he will be even dearer to you. 17 And so, because of our friendship, receive him as if he were I myself. 18 And if he has caused any harm, or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, write this and sign it with my own hand: I will pay it… without further mention of your debt to me, which is you yourself. 20 So, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake. Give me this comfort in Christ.

21 Confident of your obedience I write to you, knowing you will do even more than I ask. 22 And one more thing, get a lodging ready for me because, thanks to all your prayers, I hope to return to you.

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings. 24 So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my assistants.

25 May the grace of the Lord Christ be with you. Amen!

LETTER TO PHILEMON

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:57:43 +0000

Philemon from Colossae has a slave named Onesimus: a typical name for a slave since Onesimus means “useful” (v. 11). Onesimus escapes and goes to Rome where he expects to disappear in the crowd. Accidentally, or luckily, he meets Paul whom he had known in his master’s house. At this point, Paul is imprisoned in Rome, but enjoys certain privileges enabling him to go out in the company of a policeman. Onesimus is converted and baptized; then Paul makes him go back to his former master with the letter of recommendation that we read here.

Paul asks that the slave be seen as a brother, and even suggests that the slave be freed (v. 21).

We have already seen the advice Paul gives to slaves in Col 3:22. In those first years of the Church, obtaining God’s life in Christ seemed such a tremendous privilege, providing such inner freedom, that being a slave or being free did not greatly matter (see 1 Cor 7:17).

At that time no one thought that a change of social structure was feasible: there were slaves and there would always be slaves. The Christians were few and without any influence. Thus, they were not concerned about reforming society, nor about laws to eliminate slavery. Even before the time it became necessary to think about changing the laws, faith was already against treating slaves as “objects” or inferiors: because they were Christians, an increasing number of masters—in the Church—spontaneously renounced their rights and granted freedom to their slaves.

Many people think that the Christian community has nothing to say concerning their responsibilities to society. Here, on the contrary, we see how Paul involves the whole community in Philemon’s problem.

COLOSSIANS 4

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:55:10 +0000

4 1 As for you, masters, give your servants what is fair and reasonable, knowing that you yourselves have a Master in heaven.

Further instructions

• 2 Be steadfast in prayer and even spend the night praying and giving thanks. 3 Pray especially for us and our preaching: may the Lord open a door for us that we may announce the mystery of Christ. Because of this I am in chains; 4 pray then that I may be able to reveal this mystery as I should.

5 Deal wisely with those who do not belong to the Church; take advantage of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be pleasing with a touch of wit. Know how to speak to everyone in the best way.

7 Tychicus will give news of me. He is our dear brother and for me a faithful assistant and fellow worker for the Lord. 8 I am purposely sending him to give you news of me and to encourage you. 9 With him I am sending Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of yours. They will tell you about everything that is happening here.

10 My companion in prison, Aristarchus, greets you, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you have already received instructions. If he calls on you, receive him warmly. 11 Jesus, called Justus, also greets you. They are the only Jewish people working with me for the kingdom of God, and because of that they have been a comfort to me.

12 Greetings from your countryman Epaphras, a good servant of Christ Jesus. He constantly battles for you through his prayer that you be perfect and firm in whatever God asks of you. 13 I assure you that he has worked hard for you, as well as for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.

14 Greetings from Luke, our dear doctor and from Demas. 15 Greet the brothers and sisters of Laodicea, and don’t forget Nympha and the church that gathers in her house.

16 After reading this letter, see that it is read in the Church of the Laodiceans, and have the letter they received read in yours. 17 And say to Archipus, “Do not forget the ministry given to you in the Lord.”

18 Greetings in my own hand, Paul. Remember that I am in chains. Grace be with you.

COLOSSIANS 3

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:54:13 +0000

Seek the things that are above

3 • 1 So then, if you are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on earthly things. 3 For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, reveals himself, you also will be revealed with him in Glory.

5 Therefore, put to death what is earthly in your life, that is immorality, impurity, inordinate passions, wicked desires and greed which is a way of worshiping idols. 6 These are the things that arouse the wrath of God.

7 For a time you followed this way and lived in such disorders. 8 Well then, reject all that: anger, evil intentions, malice; and let no abusive words be heard from your lips.

Put on the new self

• 9 Do not lie to one another. You have been stripped of the old self and its way of thinking 10 to put on the new, which is being renewed and is to reach perfect knowledge and the likeness of its creator. 11 There is no room for distinction between Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, foreigner, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.

12 Clothe yourselves, then, as is fitting for God’s chosen people, holy and beloved of him. Put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience 13 to bear with one another and forgive whenever there is any occasion to do so. As the Lord has forgiven you, forgive one another. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 May the peace of Christ overflow in your hearts; for this end you were called to be one body. And be thankful.

16 Let the word of God dwell in you in all its richness. Teach and admonish one another with words of wisdom. With thankful hearts sing to God psalms, hymns and spontaneous praise. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it in the Name of Jesus, the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

On obedience

• 18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as you should do in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not get angry with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, because that pleases the Lord. 21 Parents, do not be too demanding of your children, lest they become discouraged.

22 Servants, obey your masters in everything; not only while they are present, to gain favor with them, but sincerely, because you fear the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, working for the Lord, and not for humans. 24 You well know that the Lord will reward you with the inheritance. You are servants, but your Lord is Christ. 25 Every evildoer will be paid back for whatever wrong has been done, for God does not make exceptions in favor of anyone.

COLOSSIANS 2

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:52:56 +0000

Let Christ Jesus, the Lord, be your doctrine

2 • 1 I want you to know how I strive for you, for those of Laodicea and for so many who have not met me personally. 2 I pray that all may be encouraged. May you be established in love, that you may obtain all the riches of a full understanding and know the mystery of God, Christ himself. 3 For in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 So let no one deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5 Although I am far from you, my spirit is with you and I rejoice in recalling how well-disciplined you are and how firm in the faith of Christ.

6 If you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, let him be your doctrine. 7 Be rooted and built up in him; let faith be your principle, as you were taught, and your thanksgiving overflowing.

8 See that no one deceives you with philosophy or any hollow discourse; these are merely human doctrines not inspired by Christ but by the wisdom of this world. 9 For in Him dwells the fullness of God in bodily form. 10 He is the head of all cosmic power and authority, and in him you have everything.

Baptized and risen

• 11 In Christ Jesus you were given a circumcision but not by human hands, which removed completely from you the carnal body: 12 I refer to baptism. On receiving it you were buried with Christ; and you also rose with him for having believed in the power of God who raised him from the dead.

13 You were dead. You were in sin and uncircumcised at the same time. But God gave you life with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of our debts, those regulations which accused us. He did away with all that and nailed it to the cross. 15 Victorious through the cross, he stripped the rulers and authorities of their power, humbled them before the eyes of the whole world and dragged them behind him as prisoners.

Useless doctrines

• 16 So, then, let no one criticize you in matters of food or drink or for not observing festivals, new moons or the Sabbath. 17 These things were only shadows of what was to come, whereas the reality is the person of Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on humbling practices and worship of angels. In fact, they are only good to satisfy self-indulgence, 19 instead of holding firmly to the head, Christ. It is he who nourishes and gives unity to the whole body by a complex system of nerves and ligaments, making it grow according to the plan of God.

20 If you have really died with Christ, and are rid of the principles of the world, why do you now let yourselves be taught as if you belonged to the world? 21 “Do not eat this, do not taste that, do not touch that…” 22 These are human rules and teachings, referring to things that are perishable, that wear out and disappear. 23 These doctrines may seem to be profound because they speak of religious observance and humility and of disregarding the body. In fact, they are useless as soon as the flesh rebels.

COLOSSIANS 1

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:51:53 +0000

1 • 1 Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy our brother,

2 to the saints in Colossae, our faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Receive grace and peace from God our Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 Thanks be to God, the Father of Christ Jesus, our Lord!

We constantly pray for you, 4 for we have known of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. Indeed you await in hope the inheritance reserved for you in heaven, 5 of which you have heard through the word of truth. This Gospel, 6 already present among you, is bearing fruit and growing throughout the world, as it did among you from the day you accepted it and understood the gift of God in all its truth.

7 He who taught you, Epaphras, our dear companion in the service of Christ, faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 has reminded me of the love you have for me in the spirit. 9 Because of this, from the day we received news of you, we have not ceased praying to God for you, that you may attain the full knowledge of his will through all the gifts of wisdom and spiritual understanding.

10 May your lifestyle be worthy of the Lord and completely pleasing to him. May you bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God.

11 May you become strong in everything by a sharing of the Glory of God, so that you may have great endurance and persevere in joy.

12 Constantly give thanks to the Father who has empowered us to receive our share in the inheritance of the saints in his kingdom of light. 13 He rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. 14 In him we are redeemed and forgiven.

Christ is the beginning of everything

• 15 He is the image of the unseen God,

and for all creation he is the firstborn,

16 for in him all things were created,

in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible:

thrones, rulers, authorities, powers…

All was made through him and for him.

17 He is before all

and all things hold together in him.

18 And he is the head of the body, that is the Church,

for he is the first, the first raised from the dead

that he may be the first in everything,

19 for God was pleased to let fullness dwell in him.

20 Through him God willed to reconcile all things to himself,

and through him, through his blood shed on the cross,

God establishes peace,

on earth as in heaven.

• 21 You yourselves were once estranged and opposed to God because of your evil deeds, 22 but now God has reconciled you in the human body of his Son through his death, so that you may be without fault, holy and blameless before him. 23 Only stand firm, upon the foundation of your faith, and be steadfast in hope. Keep in mind the Gospel you have heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

24 At present I rejoice when I suffer for you; I complete in my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the Church. 25 For I am serving the Church since God entrusted to me the ministry to make the word of God fully known. 26 I mean that mysterious plan that for centuries and generations remained secret, and which God has now revealed to his holy ones.

27 God willed to make known to them the riches and even the Glory that his mysterious plan reserved for the pagan nations: Christ is in you and you may hope God’s Glory.

28 This Christ we preach. We warn and teach everyone true wisdom, aiming to make everyone perfect in Christ. 29 For this cause I labor and struggle with the energy of Christ working powerfully in me.

LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:49:15 +0000

Towards the year 62, Paul, a prisoner in Rome, writes to the Christians of Colossae, who, without being aware of it, belittle Christ. They do not feel assured with only faith in Christ and they want to add some practices from the Old Testament. Or they try to include Christ in a board of celestial persons, or “angels” who are supposed to have the key to our destiny in hand.

Something was lacking in them and in the majority of their contemporaries. They were caught in the Roman Empire which had imposed its peace on the known world at that time, but also prevented them from living a life of their own. They fell back on the “spiritual.” Secret doctrines offered to lead their “perfect ones” to a higher state and theories called “gnosis” (that is, knowledge) were drawn up on the origin of the human and the world. According to them, all comes from a cosmic soup that had been boiling for ages, with impressive celestial families of angels or “eons”, male and female, who devour each other, couple and finally imprison sparks of spirit in material bodies. So people are manufactured who, after “putting on” a series of successive existences, may return to the kingdom of light.

Caught in the wind of these fine discourses, the Colossians went the way of certain Christians today who trust in their devotion to souls or who allow their life to be led by spiritualism, astrology and horoscopes. They no longer consider Christ as the only savior since they give the priority to others or to practices that are not of the Church.

This crisis in the Church of the first century gave us this letter of Paul where he establishes the absolute supremacy of Christ. As in other letters of Paul, the letter to the Colossians mentions that Timothy is with him (1:1). Paul chose him as assistant and looked on him as “his true Son in Christ.” Perhaps it was Timothy who wrote a fair part of this letter; it would explain the difference in style from the more authentic of Paul’s letters while its content—exceptionally rich—is constantly faithful to the inspiration of the apostle. On this subject see the Letter to the Ephesians which has the same themes as the one to the Colossians, but in a more developed way. In several passages of Colossians, relevant commentaries in Ephesians will be indicated.

• 1.1 Paul, as usual, praises his readers. Actually, he is writing because of the information Epaphras gave him about the Colossians’ concerns.

Epaphras, about whom Paul speaks (1:7), is a man from Colossae. When Paul was organizing the evangelization of the province of Ephesus (see Acts 19:26 and 20:4), he did not go to every city, but would send his assistants. Epaphras of Colossae announced the Good News and had started to form communities in Colossae and then in the neighboring cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis (see Col 4:13). He was the man who came to Rome to inform Paul of the difficulties.

Your faith… your love… in hope… (vv. 4-5). Paul constantly regroups these three Christian powers: believe, love and hope. In the Christian world, they are called theological virtues (i.e., powers that go straight to God). The three go together, otherwise they do not exist. In a sense hope is the first: if it is no longer alive, faith and love remain powerless.

Straight away, Paul presents faith as being matchless: the Gospel has already been preached and believed throughout the world (v. 6) (which is rather too quickly said); faith opens for us the way to true knowledge: precisely what the Colossians are looking for (see Introduction); through this faith God has already placed us in the kingdom of Light (v. 12).

He has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. While the Colossians are interested in an invisible world of supernatural forces, where luminous powers battle with those of darkness (see the Introduction, and also Eph 1:21), Paul immediately clarified the situation: there is nothing other than the power of Darkness and the kingdom of the Son.

• 15. Paul shows that the angels or invisible powers (v. 16) whether from the Bible or the story tellers of “gnosis” with their Thrones, Authorities, Principles… are nothing compared with Christ. He is neither agent nor intermediary of a creative adventure without a true creator. He is not one of the saviors of a history rather impersonal: there is only God-Creator and in him is Christ. See the same idea in Hebrews 1.

In Galatians 4:1-5 Paul recognizes that the history of humanity has been deeply marked by natural and social forces that he does not name. He also affirms that since the resurrection of Jesus, it is he who has in hand all the movement of history (Rev 5:3-5). Something that may astonish those among us who think all history is the responsibility of humankind. In one sense, they are right but on condition that they do not forget the Firstborn, the one who has already come to the end of history and of whom we say he is Lord (Phil 2:11) of history.

He is the image of the unseen God. We should not imagine that God has a human form beyond the clouds, and that Jesus is his image; human creature is the image of God, but God is not in the image of human creature.

In all that he is and in all that he does, Christ among us is the perfect image of the Father and of his mercy: his actions reveal God’s way of thinking and acting. Already before he became man, the Son of God existed in God, as the eternal and invisible image of God eternal and invisible, the radiance of the glory of the Father (Heb 1:3), the Expression or Word of God (Jn 1:1).

For all creation, he is the firstborn. We take this word in its biblical sense. He is not the first of many creatures, but the one who has a place apart. In his human nature, Christ is a Galilean Jew, a descendant of David. His person, however, is rooted in God and is presented to us as the model and the firstborn not of people but of all creation.

God was pleased to let fullness dwell in him who is the only bridge between God and the universe. The fullness of God is in him to be communicated to the universe, and the fullness of the universe will be found in him when all human beings are reconciled and reunited in him.

All was made through him: Jn 1:1 and Heb 1:2.

And was the first raised… Paul says more precisely “and as the first fruits offered to God, was raised” (as in 1 Cor 15:23). He has not come only for the forgiveness of sins, but for a “passover,” a passage from death to life, and his resurrection after his total abandonment to his Father was a first necessary step so that we too would have a resurrection.

God willed to reconcile. Once again the work of Christ is presented as reconciliation: reconciliation between people (2 Cor 5:17-21) and reconciliation of the whole of creation.

• 21. Paul now requires the Colossians to keep their feet on the ground. Do not waste your time imagining struggles between celestial beings and evil ones. The struggle is here below and costs blood and life. This is why Paul reminds his readers what he himself is suffering because of the Gospel.

The body of Christ is the place where the peace of all humanity with God, and peace between individuals and nations can be achieved (Eph 2:11).

That you may be, without fault, holy and blameless before him (v. 22): see commentary on Eph 5:26.

I complete in my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. After Christ’s death something would be lacking in the salvation of the world, if Jesus’ followers and apostles did not, in their turn, meet with trials and sufferings. Working for the Church means suffering for the Church; to work for the rule of justice is to suffer for the sake of justice.

His mysterious plan: see Eph 3:5. We must not forget that in those days, no one even thought of the common destiny of humanity: they did not even speak of humanity. Moreover, neither the Greeks nor the Romans looked beyond their actual existence. Paul is amazed by the generosity of God whose promises are for all people, without distinction (v. 27). We, too, are offered nothing less than a share in the Glory of God, that is to say, all the riches found in him.

• 2.1 I want you to know how I strive for you. This struggle of Paul signifies labor (1:28-29) and prayer (4:2 and Rom 15:30). It would be very tempting (and it is the temptation of the Colossians) to make Christianity an attractive religion, with beautiful explanations, leaving people hanging on to their dreams and passions, a religion that does not attack the sin rooted in our way of life and in our society. To join the attack we must first be convinced that it is in Christ that we find the whole mystery of God.

Let no one deceive you. Philosophy and the search for wisdom are highly respectable. Philosophies always contain some truth; their danger is in seeming to give a total response to our problems. They are deceptive insofar as they come from philosophers who have in fact had either a limited or questionable experience of human reality. In faith, on the contrary, rather than a discourse on human concerns, we have a person: Christ. While all the currents of thought are the product of their day and grow old with time, Paul assures us that all the fullness of God is in Christ in a human form.

• 11. Paul has just said that a Christian has wisdom and is on a way of knowledge. He now reminds us that our entry into the Church has been much more than an exterior rite. Through baptism, we have become part of this renewal of the world brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Paul had been circumcised, and knew from experience that it did not save him. We can be fairly sure baptism did not also miraculously free him of his aggressiveness and weaknesses, but he began to live his human existence differently. He had been liberated, among other things, of what weighed heavily on him: religion with all its commandments. Religion for him was not, as it is for some who like principles, a defensive shield as necessary as a policeman: religion was for him a reminder of a debt towards God, something that made love and real trust impossible. Jesus in dying had nailed to the cross all kinds of fears of God; at the same time he did away with all the moral principles and pressures (“powers and authorities” of v. 15) that smother our free response to God.

In some countries, many people are baptized but baptism scarcely changes their life and generally speaking they do not belong to communities seeking to renew their faith. It is not enough for us to admit that we are poor Christians, that we have not really buried the sinner within us. Our resurrection depends, first of all on faith in God who resurrected Jesus, who has pardoned us, and prepared everything so that we may live our life.

• 16. Paul has just reminded us that baptism is the beginning of a new life. It is not a matter of replacing old commandments with better commandments: the coming of Christ has put an end to all religions with commandments. That will perhaps shock many Christians: should we not obey the commandments of God and of the Church? What will become of us if there are no longer religious duties?

Indeed there is no religious group—no Christian community—without rites, habits, commandments: what would become of a community where the members would no longer gather to hear the word of God or celebrate the Eucharist? Paul nevertheless shows it is finished with religions where the most important consideration is to do or not to do, where it is believed that God likes us to rest on such a day, not to eat such and such a food, to dress in a certain way, abstain from this or that. Religions give great importance to these laws for they help the faithful to maintain their cohesion and to retain their own identity. All that deforms the idea we have of God. All that is human regulation, very useful perhaps, old fashioned perhaps, but still always human. Paul says: God does not share our interest in what is transient, in our cooking, feast days and the like; he does not treat us like little children, saying, “Don’t do that!”

All that may seem very religious. Religious prohibitions always impress those who are not free of their fear of God. Instead of freeing us and leading us to child-like trust in God, these restrictions favor a narrow-mindedness, and later violence exerted against those who think differently from us.

Do not be mistaken in thinking that contempt for the body is a sign of holiness (v. 23). Fewer kilos do not mean more Spirit! The penances and sacrifices that we impose on ourselves could cause us to feel superior to others. If you belong to a group that has its fasts, would you not like it to be known?

Let no one criticize you. Who is going to criticize us for celebrating Sunday with the resurrection of the Lord instead of the Jewish Sabbath?

• 3.1 Here we have what was said about baptism (2:12) which joins us to Christ and makes us share in all his wealth. Since Christ left this earth, we leave it too: what is best in our lives, what motivates us to do things is neither visible, nor is it of the earth. God alone knows the riches of the believer’s heart, even when her life seems tarnished by various faults and weaknesses: one day God will manifest the goodness, the “glory” which we do not yet see (see Mt 25:31-46).

Put to death what is earthly in your life. It is not that we have to kill ourselves, but to destroy egoism, wickedness, envy, excessive confidence in self, for sin is there. Being free of a religion of commandments should not make us less aware of what is required in a new life: it means being still more perfect (Mt 5:20 and 48).

• 9. See Ephesians 4:20-24 where Paul develops the same idea of the new self created in Christ and of the old self which must be abandoned.

While the old self is self-centered, enslaved by passions, the new self is characterized by a communal attitude, a constant concern for others. He lives with a thankful heart.

• 18. The brief counsel given to spouses (vv. 18-19) will be largely developed in Eph 5:21-33. Paul would not accept the attitude of many Christians who say: “Religion has nothing to do with what I do in my home, my work, my leisure, or in politics.” On the contrary, Paul insists that Christians live all of this before the Lord, for the Lord and in the Lord.

This is why Paul preaches the same ethics to everyone: men, women, slaves (we would say bosses and workers); all must be just, loyal and respectful of others, even when they have faults. We should struggle to bring about change and defend our rights; but we must lead these struggles and live our commitments according to the spirit of Christ. Very often what we ask for in order to change the world is less important than the way in which we ask it, and it is often there that a Christian will give a witness that only she can give. Let others be successful whatever the means that are taken and whatever the disastrous consequences for society: see on this subject the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–7).

• 4.2 All this is commented on in Ephesians 6:18-21.

Onesimus is a runaway slave who returns to Colossae with Tychicus after Paul converted him to the faith (see Letter to Philemon).

The evangelist Mark, now reconciled with Paul (see Acts 15:38), is with him. Luke (v. 14) mentioned here is the author of the Gospel and Acts.

We can see there was much communication between churches of different places. Each one was not locked within its own community: had this been the case, within a short time, there would have been as many religions as there were churches. Quite to the contrary, they were conscious of being the Church of Christ, established in various places, but with one testimony concerning Christ, which explains the interest the believers had in keeping in close contact with one another. At a time in which it seemed difficult to preserve unity due to the distance and differences among the people, the power that preserved unity—more than a rigid organization—was the profound sense all the people had that the church was a “communion” or a community enlivened by the Spirit of Christ.

Nowadays when we attempt to form “basic Christian communities,” we must also be careful to remain in contact and in harmony with other communities.

PHILIPPIANS 4

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:47:08 +0000

Agree with one another and be happy

4 • 1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, you my glory and crown, be steadfast in the Lord. 2 I beg Evodia and Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. 3 And you, Sycygus, my true companion, I beg you to help them. Do not forget that they have labored with me in the service of the Gospel, together with Clement and my other fellow-workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: rejoice 5 and may everyone experience your gentle and understanding heart. The Lord is near: 6 do not be anxious about anything. In everything resort to prayer and supplication together with thanksgiving and bring your requests before God. 7 Then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with whatever is truthful, holy, just, pure, lovely and noble. Be mindful of whatever deserves praise and admiration. 9 Put into practice what you have learned from me, what I passed on to you, what you heard from me or saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul’s thankfulness

• 10 I rejoice in the Lord because of your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me before, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I do not say this because of being in want; I have learned to manage with what I have. 12 I know what it is to be in want and what it is to have plenty. I am trained for both: to be hungry or satisfied, to have much or little. 13 I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

14 However you did right in sharing my trials. 15 You Philippians, remember that in the beginning, when we first preached the Gospel, after I left Macedonia you alone opened for me a debit and credit account, 16 and when I was in Thessalonica, twice you sent me what I needed.

17 It is not your gift that I value but rather the interest increasing in your own account. 18 Now I have enough and more than enough with everything Epaphroditus brought me on your behalf and which I received as “fragrant offerings pleasing to God.” 19 God himself will provide you with everything you need, according to his riches, and show you his generosity in Christ Jesus. 20 Glory to God, our Father, for ever and ever: Amen.

21 Greet all who believe in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters with me greet you. 22 All the believers here greet you, especially those from Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of Christ Jesus, the Lord, be with your spirit.

PHILIPPIANS 3

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:46:08 +0000

Do not turn back to the Jewish law

3 1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.

• It is not a burden for me to write again the same things, and for you it is safer. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the bad workers; beware of the circumcised. 3 We are the true circumcised people since we serve according to the Spirit of God, and our confidence is in Christ Jesus rather than in our merits.

4 I myself do not lack those human qualities in which people have confidence. If some of them seem to be accredited with such qualities, how much more am I! 5 I was circumcised when eight days old. I was born of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; I am a Hebrew, born of Hebrews. With regard to the Law, I am a Pharisee, 6 and such was my zeal for the Law that I persecuted the Church. As for being righteous according to the Law, I was blameless.

7 But once I found Christ, all those things that I might have considered as profit, I reckoned as loss. 8 Still more, everything seems to me as nothing compared with the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake I have let everything fall away and I now consider all as garbage, if instead I may gain Christ. 9 May I be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but with the righteousness that God gives to those who believe.

10 May I know him and experience the power of his resurrection and share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, 11 and attain through this, God willing, the resurrection from the dead!

12 I do not believe I have already reached the goal, nor do I consider myself perfect, but I press on till I conquer Christ Jesus, as I have already been conquered by him. 13 No, brothers and sisters, I do not claim to have claimed the prize yet. I say only this: forgetting what is behind me, I race forward and run towards the goal, 14 my eyes on the prize to which God has called us from above in Christ Jesus. 15 Let all of us who claim to be perfect have the same way of thinking, but if there is something on which you differ, God will make it clear to you. 16 Meanwhile, let us go forward from the point we have each attained.

17 Unite in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and look at those who walk in our way of life. 18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have said it to you many times, and now I repeat it with tears: 19 they are heading for ruin; their belly is their god and they feel proud of what should be their shame. They only think of earthly things.

20 For us, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord. 21 He will transfigure our lowly body, making it like his own body, radiant in Glory, through the power which is his to submit everything to himself.

PHILIPPIANS 2

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:44:57 +0000

Imitate the humility of Jesus

2 • 1 If I may advise you in the name of Christ and if you can hear it as the voice of love; if we share the same spirit and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you 2 make me very happy: have one love, one spirit, one feeling, 3 do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit. On the contrary let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. 4 Do not seek your own interest, but rather that of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ had:

6 Though he was in the form of God,

he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself,

taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness,

and in his appearance found as a man.

8 He humbled himself by being obedient to death,

death on the cross.

9 That is why God exalted him

and gave him the Name which outshines all names,

10 so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend

in heaven, on earth and among the dead,

11 and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

• 12 Therefore, my dearest friends, as you always obeyed me while I was with you, even more now that I am far from you, continue working out your salvation “with fear and trembling.” 13 It is God who makes you not only wish but also carry out what pleases him. 14 Do everything without grumbling, 15 so that without fault or blame, you will be children of God without reproach among a crooked and perverse generation. You are a light among them, like stars in the universe, 16 holding to the Word of life. I shall feel proud of you on the day of Christ on seeing that my effort and labor have not been in vain. 17 And if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I rejoice and continue to share your joy; 18 and you likewise should rejoice and share my joy.

Paul’s messengers

• 19 The Lord Jesus lets me hope that I may soon send you Timothy, and have news of you. With this I will feel encouraged. 20 For I have no one so concerned for you as he is. 21 Most follow their own interest, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But Timothy has proved himself, as you know. Like a son at the side of his father, he has been with me at the service of the Gospel. 23 Because of that I hope to send him to you as soon as I see how things work out for me. 24 Nevertheless the Lord lets me think that I myself shall be coming soon.

25 I judged it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, who worked and fought at my side and whom you sent to help me in my great need. 26 In fact, he missed you very much and was still more worried because you had heard of his sickness. 27 He was indeed sick and almost died, but God took pity on him and on me, sparing me greater sorrow. 28 And so I am eager to send him to you, so that on seeing him you will be glad and I will be at peace. 29 Receive him then with joy, as is fitting in the Lord. Consider highly persons like him, 30 who almost died for the work of Christ; he risked his life to serve me on your behalf when you could not help me.

PHILIPPIANS 1

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:44:00 +0000

1 • 1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to the saints in Philippi, with their bishops and deacons;

to you all in Christ Jesus:

2 May grace and peace be yours from God, our Father, and Christ Jesus the Lord.

3 I give thanks to my God each time I remember you, 4 and when I pray for you, I pray with joy. 5 I cannot forget all you shared with me in the service of the Gospel, from the first day until now. 6 Since God began such a good work in you, I am certain that he will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.

7 This is my hope for you, for I carry you all in my heart: whether I am in prison or defending and confirming the Gospel, you are with me and share the same grace.

8 God knows that I love you dearly with the love of Christ Jesus, 9 and in my prayers I ask that your love may lead you each day to a deeper knowledge and clearer discernment, 10 that you may have good criteria for everything. So you may be pure of heart and come blameless to the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of holiness that comes through Christ Jesus, for the glory and praise of God.

Christ is my life

• 12 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has served to advance the Gospel. 13 Actually the whole praetorian guard, and even those outside the palace, know that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And what is more, my condition as prisoner has encouraged most of our brothers who are now emboldened to proclaim the Word of God more openly and without fear.

15 Some, it is true, are moved by envy and rivalry, but others preach Christ with a good intention. 16 These latter are moved by love and realize that I am here to defend the Gospel. 17 The others announce Christ to challenge me. They do not act with a pure intention but think they are making my prison more unbearable. 18 But in any case, whether they are sincere or showing off, Christ is proclaimed and because of this I rejoice and have no regrets.

19 I know that all this will be a grace for me because of your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Christ. 20 I am hopeful, even certain, that I shall not be ashamed. I feel as assured now, as before, that Christ will be exalted through my person, whether I live or die.

21 For to me, living is Christ, and dying is gain. 22 But if I am to go on living, I shall be able to enjoy fruitful labor. Which shall I choose? 23 So I feel torn between the two. I desire greatly to leave this life and to be with Christ, which will be better by far, 24 but it is necessary for you that I remain in this life. 25 And because I am convinced of this, I know that I will stay and remain with you for your progress and happiness in the faith. 26 I will surely come to you again, and give you more reason for being proud of belonging to Christ Jesus.

Stand firm in faith

• 27 Try, then, to adjust your lives according to the Gospel of Christ. May I see it when I come to you, and if I cannot come, may I at least hear that you stand firm in the same spirit, striving to uphold the faith of the Gospel with one heart. 28 Do not be afraid of your opponents. This will be a sign that they are defeated and you are saved, that is saved by God. 29 For through Christ you have been granted not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him. 30 And you now share the same struggle that you saw I had and that I continue to have, as you know.

Commentaries on Philippians

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:41:27 +0000

Here again a real letter from Paul, personal, full of attention and tenderness that Paul sent from prison to the community that had always been the most concerned for his well-being. More than once Paul counted on their material assistance, showing the confidence he had in them. Usually, in order to avoid any suspicion of personal interest, he preferred to earn his living while continuing his mission. In this letter we have the famous page: “Let the same project that was in Christ Jesus be found in you.”

We have just said it is a real letter from Paul. Actually, all in it does not follow, as if fragments of several letters from Paul had been combined. We shall draw attention to it as we proceed: 2:19, 21; 4:1. It may well be a question of two short letters, one where Paul wanted to give his news and to thank, the other a warning, in the same style as the letter to the Galatians.

When Paul’s letters were gathered together, the most important were arranged according to length: Romans, Corinthians, Galatians. Then came those we call “captivity letters.” It is there we have Philippians between Ephesians and Colossians as if the three had been sent from the same prison. Yet there is every reason to think that Philippians was not written when Paul was in Rome, about 60 A.D., but several years earlier, more like 56 A.D. Perhaps he was at that time imprisoned in Ephesus.

• 1.1 With their bishops and deacons. In Acts we saw how the apostles used to establish a community, a church, in every city where they proclaimed the Gospel. They did not leave without having established a council of leaders, called presbyters, or elders, according to Jewish custom. After a few years bishops, or supervisors, stood out: they may have been the leading members of the council of presbyters. They were not then like today’s bishops.

As to the deacons, they were in charge of various services in the community. And may have done missionary work in areas that did not yet have a community.

God began such a good work in you, I am certain that he will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus (v. 6). The end for which they long is always the manifestation (2 Thes 1:7), or the visit, or the Day of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor 1:8). No work is done without the expectation of the day when there will be all that one dreamed about. There is no Christian life where someone is content with looking forward to his retirement or feels fulfilled because he has a country house or because the family is growing up without a problem. Let us stop saying these first Christians still had the “illusion” of an early return of Christ. They wanted to meet him personally and be transfigured by him. That is an illusion only for those who enclose themselves in oases of peace within a world in crisis.

Knowledge and discernment… A good heart and generosity are not everything in Christian life. We are not saved, we do not reach our true stature, we are not remade as God would like us to be, unless clarity has guided generosity. It is the same for world salvation. God calls us to discover new ways. We need to reflect, to be attentive, what we could call “revision of life,” in order to discover what is positive and negative in our daily life, work relationships, social duties, leisure. This reflection, however, is not sufficient: among God’s gifts, there is spiritual knowledge that gives us a fresh vision of the order of values and of the will of God.

• 12. Paul is not only persecuted by the Jews: even in the Church “false brothers,” delighted he is in prison, see in this situation the possibility of increasing their own importance. The problem is one for all times: the great names of the apostolate have spent half of their energy in limiting the harm caused by rivals or by powerful groups in the Church. Paul, however, is gifted with wisdom: he sees that even if many do for personal interest what they believe they are doing for God, he knows how to turn it to account.

I am hopeful, even certain, that I shall not be ashamed (v. 20). Paul’s concern is that his trial and his appearances should serve to reveal Christ’s message to the authorities.

Christ is my life. It is quite trendy to say that Christians should “understand the world” and be “fully human.” This is true in a certain way, but it does not say everything. God’s love increases in us through the gift of ourselves to persons and to tasks that he entrusts to us, but as the love of God grows, the desire of Christ and eternity takes root with it: this desire makes us like strangers in the world.

Paul would like to see his friends but not for that will he linger over fraternal meals in which his friends would try to provide him with a warm atmosphere. His deep desire is for what he still lacks: to meet Christ in his glory (see 2 Cor 4:16 and Phil 3:10).

I desire greatly to leave this life and to be with Christ (v. 23). Thus, those who say that a person ceases to exist at the time of death and only recovers life in the resurrection at the end of times are wrong. See 2 Cor 5:8 also.

• 27. See how throughout this paragraph Paul invites the Philippians to fully share his own struggle: he is in prison, but they must remain in the front line of the battle. What does he expect? First that their community be a true one (v. 27). Unity is a decisive sign for those who see us from the outside. Uphold the faith of the Gospel with one heart. Whether there be a persecution or not, people from the outside will try to divide us.

• 2.1 Unity is often supported by a shared feeling of being the best, or the strongest, or having to contend with another group: in that way many religious groups maintain their strength, their discipline and the efforts and sacrifices needed for this. All that is also found in Christian groups, but it should not be, for we have another spirit (Lk 9:55). With us, unity will follow from much humility and understanding of others. Here, Paul gives the secret of Christian co-existence: look for what is humble and do nothing through rivalry or for glory.

In a hymn which is a sort of creed, Paul proposes the example of Christ: his path from God to man, from rich to poor, from first to last, from master to servant.

The Lord Jesus desired to identify with the most humble, the most afflicted, the most despised. Such were Jesus’ attitudes and they must be those of his followers, the Christians. A desire to identify with the most humble and to share with them is the motivation for a truly evangelical life.

In this we must differ from the majority of people who are mainly interested in their personal or family fulfillment. Their ambitions are legitimate, and who among us does not share them at least partly? Yet they have been devalued by Christ by the simple fact that he took the opposite way.

He did not claim equality with God: the mystery of God’s Son who became a mortal man and gave up God’s Glory, although he could have preserved it even in his human life. Since Christ was to be the New Man, glorified by God and placed above everything, his being subject to misery and limitations was a way of being reduced to nothingness.

God exalted him. The humiliation and obedience of Christ were the condition for receiving his glory. He gave him the Name (of God), that is, he made him fully enjoy in his human nature the divine Power (or Name).

• 12. Continue working out your salvation with fear and trembling. It is not a matter of being afraid of God. Paul has just urged his readers to rejoice, since they no longer have the spirit of slaves to make them fearful, but the spirit of sons and daughters (Rom 8:15).

Paul, in fact, has just recalled Christ’s sacrifice and he draws this conclusion: take your life very seriously (this is the meaning of fear and trembling: as does the one who carefully carries a precious load). Be aware that God is at work in you through these good desires that come to you. Live in the presence of God.

• 19. Paul usually deals with personal matters at the end of his letters. Here he seems to interrupt the subject of his letter that he will take up again in 3:1. Paul announces two visits to the Christians of Philippi.

Timothy is Paul’s assistant; he is entrusted with several missions to the communities. It seems that Timothy did not have much authority and could be easily humiliated by those who disliked Paul’s direction.

As to Epaphroditus, he was a Christian from Philippi who had left his family, spent his money and faced risks in order to go and visit Paul. The community of believers must pay attention to its most committed members, who have little means, in order to assist them. The Church sometimes presents as examples, militants from the working class or peasants who were quite forgotten by their brothers and sisters in the faith during their lives.

• 3.1 The discourse of Paul seems to be interrupted here. Paul begins a violent polemic against ill-converted Jews who keep repeating that one must first be faithful to the laws and customs of the Old Testament in order to be a good Christian.

Beware of the dogs…! (v. 2) Paul applies to the Jews, proud of being the chosen people, the very insults that they reserved for non-Jews. Jews were sealed by the circumcision, but they mocked people of other religions who incised their skin (1K 18:28).

Through what Paul says concerning his faithfulness to Judaism, we know something of his past. He was born in Tarsus to a Jewish family who had left their country and had settled there, in “Greek” territory, where they dedicated themselves to business. His parents were wealthy and well thought of since they had the dignity and the rights of Roman citizens (see Acts 22:28). Along with Greek culture, Paul received religious education from the Bible and the Jewish people. He saw firsthand the pagan feasts and sacrifices, but was proud of belonging to God’s people, of being circumcised and instructed in God’s promises to his race. His parents sent him to Jerusalem to study Scripture and the Law with the great masters of his time (see Acts 22:3).

He was a model of strict Pharisee. He did not meet Christ but did meet the early Christians. Because he was faithful to the religion of his ancestors, he believed it was necessary to persecute, imprison and even kill those preaching a new doctrine and deceiving (so he though) the people, since they proclaimed a false, defeated and crucified Messiah.

At times, Paul must have had doubts (Acts 26:14), and increasingly so, when he felt duty bound to increase repression. The Pharisees were against the death penalty. To hesitate or go backwards was to recognize that God had taken another road than the one where he himself had been the defender of God’s cause. Worse still: with Jesus, never more would he be the just man but rather the pardoned sinner. When Jesus forcefully entered into Paul’s life, it was a matter of losing all and Paul from then on accepted to regard as garbage all that he had been proud of.

Forgetting what is behind me (v. 13). Paul only wanted to “forget.” Forget his merits and his gains (in the judgment of others) so as to receive more fully the free grace of God; forget what he already knew of God and be available for new experiences.

I want to know him. The greatest thing for Christians is not to perform miracles, or to speak in tongues, but to know Christ and meet him as a living person. I want to experience the power of his resurrection. All of us would like to feel the presence of God and to see him in some way, but the way to experience his power that transfigures us is by sharing in Christ’s sufferings (2 Cor 1:3-5).

All of us who claim to be perfect (v. 15). See what was said in 1 Cor 2:6. Paul speaks ironically again about those who believe they belong to a superior class of Christians, while he would not dare consider himself to be perfect (v.12).

Finally, he insists on the resurrection. Because we know that our bodies (or persons) will be raised and that the universe will be renewed, we must put passing things in their place: food, wine, sex—all must stop being the idols that enslave us.

• 4.1 Once again the theme is interrupted; this passage seems to be the continuation of 2:19–3:1.

The Book of Life (v. 3) is a common Jewish term meaning those who will be saved (Rev 20:12).

Fill your minds with whatever is truthful, holy, just, pure, lovely and noble (v. 8). Paul continuously repeats that it is not enough to avoid what is forbidden. Let us discover this free and open attitude of a believer who knows that God speaks to him in a thousand ways through others. How many examples before our eyes each day! What great, noble and true things there are in this world about which we speak negatively! Let us accept what is good, wherever we find it, even among unbelievers.

• 10. Paul thanks the Church of Philippi for their help. He, who is so jealous of his independence and anxious not to seem to take advantage of others under the pretext of religion, accepts what his real friends give him.

EPHESIANS 6

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:33:48 +0000

Children, parents, servants and masters

6 • 1 Children, obey your parents for this is right: 2 Honor your father and your mother. And this is the first commandment that has promise: 3 that you may be happy and enjoy long life in the land. 4 And you, fathers, do not make rebels of your children, but educate them by correction and instruction which the Lord may inspire.

5 Servants, obey your masters of this world with fear and respect, with simplicity of heart, as if obeying Christ. 6 Do not serve only when you are watched or in order to please others, but become servants of Christ who do God’s will with all your heart. 7 Work willingly, for the Lord and not for humans, mindful that the good each one has done, 8 whether servant or free, will be rewarded by the Lord.

9 And you, masters, deal with your servants in the same way, and do not threaten them, since you know that they and you have the same Lord who is in heaven, and he treats all fairly.

Be strong in the Lord

• 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord with his energy and strength. 11 Put on the whole armor of God to be able to resist the cunning of the devil. 12 Our battle is not against human forces but against the rulers and authorities and their dark powers that govern this world. We are struggling against the spirits and supernatural forces of evil.

13 Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that in the evil day, you may resist and stand your ground, making use of all your weapons. 14 Take truth as your belt, justice as your breastplate, 15 and zeal as your shoes to propagate the Gospel of peace. 16 Always hold in your hand the shield of faith to repel the flaming arrows of the devil. 17 Finally, use the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the Word of God.

18 Pray at all times as the Spirit inspires you. Keep watch, together with sustained prayer and supplication for all the holy ones. 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, I may be given words to proclaim bravely the mystery of the Gospel. 20 Even when in chains I am an ambassador of God; may he give me the strength to speak as I should.

21 I also want you to know how I am and what I am doing. Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. 22 I am sending him precisely to give you news of us and comfort you all.

23 May peace and love with faith from God the Father and from Christ Jesus the Lord, be with the brothers and sisters. 24 And may his blessing be with all who love Christ Jesus, our Lord, with undying love.

EPHESIANS 5

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:32:52 +0000

Imitate God

5 • 1 As most beloved children of God, strive to imitate him. 2 Follow the way of love, the example of Christ who loved you. He gave himself up for us and became the offering and sacrificial victim whose fragrance rises to God. 3 And since you are holy, there must not be among you even a hint of sexual immorality or greed, or any kind of impurity: these should not be named among you. 4 So too for scandalous words, nonsense and foolishness, which are not fitting; instead offer thanksgiving to God.

5 Know this: no depraved, impure or covetous person who serves the god ‘Money’ shall have part in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for these are the sins which God is about to condemn in people who do not obey. 7 Do not associate with such people. 8 You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Behave as children of light; 9 the fruits of light are kindness, justice and truth in every form.

10 You yourselves search out what pleases the Lord, 11 and take no part in works of darkness that are of no benefit; expose them instead. 12 Indeed it is a shame even to speak of what those people do in secret, 13 but as soon as it is exposed to the light, everything becomes clear; and what is unmasked, becomes clear through light. 14 Therefore it is said:

“Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead that the light of Christ may shine on you.”

15 Pay attention to how you behave. Do not live as the unwise do, but as responsible persons. 16 Try to make good use of the present time, because these days are evil. 17 So do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.

18 Do not get drunk: wine leads to levity; but be filled with the Holy Spirit. 19 Gather together to pray with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and celebrate the Lord in your heart, 20 giving thanks to God the Father in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, always and for everything.

Husbands, love your wives

• 21 Let all kinds of submission to one another become obedience to Christ. 22 So wives to their husbands: as to the Lord.

23 The husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, of whom he is also the Savior. 24 And as the Church submits to Christ, so let a wife submit in everything to her husband.

25 As for you, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. 26 He washed her and made her holy by baptism in the Word. 27 As he wanted a radiant Church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless, he himself had to prepare and present her to himself.

28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 And no one has ever hated his body; he feeds and takes care of it. That is just what Christ does for the Church, 30 because we are members of his body.

31 Scripture says: Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother to be united with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This is a very great mystery, and I refer to Christ and the Church. 33 As for you, let each one love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband

EPHESIANS 4

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:31:58 +0000

We shall become the perfect creation

4 • 1 Therefore I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have received. 2 Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love.

3 Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace. 4 Let there be one body and one spirit, for God, in calling you, gave the same Spirit to all. 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism. 6 One God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in all.

7 But to each of us divine grace is given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it is said: When he ascended to the heights, he brought captives and gave his gifts to people.

9 He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended to the lower parts of the world? 10 He himself who went down, then ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things. 11As for his gifts, to some he gave to be apostles, to others prophets, or even evangelists, or pastors and teachers. 12 So he prepared those who belong to him for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, 13 until we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity and sharing the fullness of Christ.

14 Then no longer shall we be like children tossed about by any wave or wind of doctrine, and deceived by the cunning of people who drag them along into error. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we shall grow in every way towards him who is the head, Christ. 16 From him comes the growth of the whole body to which a network of joints gives order and cohesion, taking into account and making use of the function of each one. So the body builds itself in love.

Put on the new self

• 17 I say to you, then, and with insistence I advise you in the Lord: do not imitate the pagans who live an aimless kind of life. 18 Their understanding is in darkness and they remain in ignorance because of their blind conscience, very far from the life of God. 19 As a result of their corruption, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and have eagerly given themselves to every kind of immorality.

20 But it is not for this that you have followed Christ. 21 For I suppose that you heard of him and received his teaching which is seen in Jesus himself. 22 You must give up your former way of living, the old self, whose deceitful desires bring self-destruction. 23 Renew yourselves spiritually, from inside, 24 and put on the new self, or self. according to God, that is created in true righteousness and holiness

25 Therefore, give up lying; let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin: do not let your anger last until the end of the day, 27 lest you give the devil a foothold.

28 Let the one who used to steal, steal no more, but busy himself working usefully with his hands so that he may have something to share with the needy. 29 Do not let even one bad word come from your mouth, but only good words that will encourage when necessary and be helpful to those who hear.

30 Do not sadden the Holy Spirit of God which you were marked with. It will be your distinctive mark on the day of salvation. 31 Do away with all quarreling, rage, anger, insults and every kind of malice: 32 be good and understanding, mutually forgiving one another as God forgave you in Christ.

EPHESIANS 3

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:31:06 +0000

God’s inheritance is for all

3 • 1 For this reason I, Paul, came to be the prisoner of Christ for you, the non-Jews. 2 You may have heard of the graces God bestowed on me for your sake. 3 By a revelation he gave me the knowledge of his mysterious design, as I have explained in a few words. 4 On reading them you will have some idea of how I understand the mystery of Christ.

5 This mystery was not made known to past generations but only now, through revelations given to holy apostles and prophets. 6 Now the non-Jewish people share the Inheritance; in Christ Jesus the non-Jews are incorporated and are to enjoy the Promise.

This is the Good News 7 of which I have become minister by a gift of God, a grace he gave me, when his power worked in me.

8 This grace was given to me, the least among all the holy ones: to announce to the pagan nations the immeasurable riches of Christ 9 and to make clear to all how the mystery, hidden from the beginning in God, the Creator of all things, is to be fulfilled.

10 Even the heavenly forces and powers will now discover through the Church the wisdom of God in its manifold expression, as the plan is being fulfilled 11 which God designed from the beginning in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 12 In him we receive boldness and confidence to approach God.

13 So I ask you not to be discouraged at seeing the trials I endure for you, but rather to feel proud because of them.

• 14 And now I kneel in the presence of the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth has received its name.

16 May he strengthen in you the inner self through his Spirit, according to the riches of his glory;

17 may Christ dwell in your hearts through faith;

may you be rooted and founded in love.

18 All of this so that you may understand with all the holy ones the width, the length, the height and the depth—in a word, 19 that you may know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled and reach the fullness of God.

20 Glory to God who shows his power in us and can do much more than we could ask or imagine; 21 glory to him in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations for ever and ever. Amen.

EPHESIANS 2

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:30:13 +0000

By grace you have been saved!

2 • 1 You were dead through the faults and sins. 2 Once you lived through them according to this world and followed the Sovereign Ruler who reigns between heaven and earth and who goes on working in those who resist the faith. 3 All of us belonged to them at one time and we followed human greed; we obeyed the urges of our human nature and consented to its desires. By ourselves, we went straight to the judgment like the rest of humankind.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, revealed his immense love. 5 As we were dead through our sins, he gave us life with Christ. By grace you have been saved! 6 And he raised us to life with Christ, giving us a place with him in heaven.

7 In showing us such kindness in Christ Jesus, God willed to reveal and unfold in the coming ages the extraordinary riches of his grace. 8 By the grace of God you have been saved through faith. This has not come from you: it is God’s gift. 9 This was not the result of your works, so you are not to feel proud. 10 What we are is God’s work. He has created us in Christ Jesus for the good works he has prepared that we should devote ourselves to them.

Christ is our Peace

• 11 Remember that you were pagans even in your flesh and the Jews, who call themselves Circumcised (because of a surgical circumcision), called you Uncircumcised. 12 At that time you were without Christ, you did not belong to the community of Israel; the covenants of God and his promises were not for you; you had no hope and were without God in this world. 13 But now, in Christ Jesus and by his blood, you who were once far off have come near.

14 For Christ is our peace, he who has made the two peoples one, 15 destroying in his own flesh the wall—the hatred—which separated us. He abolished the Law with its commands and precepts. He made peace in uniting the two peoples in him, creating out of the two one New Man. 16 He destroyed hatred and reconciled us both to God through the cross, making the two one body.

17 He came to proclaim peace; peace to you who were far off, peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Through him we—the two peoples—approach the Father in one Spirit.

19 Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people: you are of the household of God. You are the house 20 whose foundations are the apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus. 21 In him the whole structure is joined together and rises to be a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you too are being built to become the spiritual sanctuary of God.

EPHESIANS 1

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:29:16 +0000

1 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

to the saints in Ephesus, to you who share Christian faith:

2 receive grace and peace from God our Father and from Jesus the Lord.

• 3 Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord,

who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing.

4 God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world

to be holy and without sin in his presence.

5 From eternity he destined us in love

to be his adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus,

thus fulfilling his free and generous will.

This goal suited him:

6 that his loving-kindness which he granted us in his Beloved

might finally receive all glory and praise.

7 For in Christ we obtain freedom, sealed by his blood,

and have the forgiveness of sins.

In this appears the greatness of his grace,

8 which he lavished on us.

In all wisdom and understanding,

9 God has made known to us his mysterious design,

in accordance with his loving-kindness in Christ.

10 In him and under him God wanted to unite,

when the fullness of time had come,

everything in heaven and on earth.

11 By a decree of Him who disposes all things

according to his own plan and decision

we, the Jews, have been chosen and called

12 and we were awaiting the Messiah,

for the praise of his glory.

13 You, on hearing the word of truth,

the Gospel that saves you,

have believed in him.

And, as promised, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit,

14 the first pledge of what we shall receive,

on the way to our deliverance as a people of God,

for the praise of his glory.

God has put all things under the feet of Christ

• 15 I have been told of your faith and your affection towards all the believers, 16 so I always give thanks to God, remembering you in my prayers.

17 May the God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of Glory, reveal himself to you and give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know him.

18 May he enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by God.

May you know how great is the inheritance, the glory, God sets apart for his saints;

19 may you understand with what extraordinary power he acts in favor of us who believe.

20 He revealed his almighty power in Christ when he raised him from the dead and had him sit at his right hand in heaven, 21 far above all rule, power, authority, dominion, or any other supernatural force that could be named, not only in this world but in the world to come as well.

22 Thus has God put all things under the feet of Christ and set him above all things, as head of the Church 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

GALATIANS 6

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:27:21 +0000

Various counsels

6 1 Brethren, in the event of someone falling into a sin, you who are spiritual shall set him aright with the spirit of kindness. Take care for you, too, may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks he is something, when in fact he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each one examine his own conduct and boast for himself, if he wants to do so, but not before others. 5 In this, let each one carry his own things.

6 He who receives the teaching of the Word ought to share the good things he has with the one who instructs him. 7 Do not be fooled. God cannot be deceived. You reap what you sow. 8 The person who sows for the benefit of his own flesh shall reap corruption and death from the flesh. He who sows in the spirit shall reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 Let us do good without being discouraged; in due time we shall reap the reward of our constancy. 10 So while there is time, let us do good to all and especially to our family in the faith.

I am crucified with Christ

• 11 See these large letters I use when I write to you in my own hand.

Who obliges you to be circumcised? 12 Those who are most anxious to put up a good show in life: what if the cross of Christ should bring them some trouble! 13 Not for being circumcised do they observe the Law: what interests them is the external rite. What a boast for them if they had you circumcised!

14 For me, I do not wish to take pride in anything except in the cross of Christ Jesus our Lord. Through him the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

15 Let us no longer speak of the circumcised and of non-Jews, but of a new creation. 16Let those who live according to this rule receive peace and mercy: they are the Israel of God! 17 Let no one trouble me any longer: for my part, I bear in my body the marks of Jesus.

18 May the grace of Christ Jesus our Lord be with your spirit brothers and sisters. Amen.

GALATIANS 5

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:26:25 +0000

5 • 1 Christ freed us to make us really free. So remain firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. 2 I, Paul, say this to you: if you receive circumcision, Christ can no longer help you. 3 Once more I say to whoever receives circumcision: you are now bound to keep the whole Law. 4 All you who pretend to become righteous through the observance of the Law have separated yourselves from Christ and have fallen away from grace.

5 As for us, through the Spirit and faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 In Christ Jesus it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not; what matters is faith working through love.

7 You had begun your race well, who then hindered you on the way? Why did you stop obeying the truth? 8 This was not in obedience to God who calls you: 9 in fact, a little leaven is affecting the whole of you. 10 I am personally convinced that you will not go astray, but the one who confuses you, whoever he may be, shall receive punishment.

11 I myself, brothers, could I not preach circumcision? Then I would no longer be persecuted. But where would be the scandal of the cross? 12 Would that those who confuse would castrate themselves!

True freedom

• 13 You, brothers and sisters, were called to enjoy freedom; I am not speaking of that freedom which gives free rein to the desires of the flesh, but of that which makes you slaves of one another through love. 14 For the whole Law is summed up in this sentence: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 15 But if you bite and tear each other to pieces, be careful lest you all perish.

16 Therefore I say to you: walk according to the Spirit and do not give way to the desires of the flesh! 17 For the desires of the flesh war against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are opposed to the flesh. Both are in conflict with each other, so that you cannot do everything you would like. 18 But when you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law.

19 You know what comes from the flesh: fornication, impurity and shamelessness, 20 idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions, 21 and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I again say to you what I have already said: those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, 23 gentleness and self-control. For such things there is no Law or punishment. 24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us live in a spiritual way. 26 Let us not be conceited; let there be no rivalry or envy of one another.

GALATIANS 4

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:25:32 +0000

4 • 1 But listen, as long as the heir of the host is a child, he has no advantage over the slaves, although he is the master of them all. 2 He is subject to those who care for him and who are entrusted with his affairs until the time set by his father comes. 3 In the same way we as children were first subjected to the created forces that govern the world. 4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son. He came born of woman and subject to the Law, 5 in order to redeem the subjects of the Law, that we might receive adoption as children of God. 6 And because you are children, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of his Son which cries out: Abba! that is, Father!

7 You yourself are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.

8 When you did not know God, you served those who are not gods. 9 But now that you have known God—or rather he has known you—how can you turn back to weak and impoverished created things? Do you want to be enslaved again? 10 Will you again observe this and that day, and the new moon, and this period and that year…? 11 I fear I may have wasted my time with you.

I still suffer for you

• 12 I implore you, dearly beloved, do as I do, just as I became like you. You have not offended me in anything. 13 Remember that it was an illness that first gave me the opportunity to announce the Gospel to you. 14 Although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

15 Where is this bliss? For I can testify that you would have even plucked out your eyes to give them to me. 16 But now, have I become your enemy for telling you the truth?

17 Those who show consideration to you are not sincere; they want to separate you from me, so that you may show interest in them. 18 Would that you were surrounded with sincere care at all times, and not only from me when I am with you!

19 My children! I still suffer the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. 20 How I wish I could be there with you at this moment and find the right way of talking to you.

The comparison of Sarah and Hagar

• 21 Tell me, you who desire to submit yourselves to the Law, did you listen to it? 22 It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by the free woman, his wife. 23 The son of the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but the son of the free woman was born in fulfillment of God’s promise.

24 Here we have an allegory and the figures of two covenants. The first is the one from Mount Sinai, represented through Hagar: her children have slavery for their lot. 25 We know that Hagar was from Mount Sinai in Arabia: she stands for the present city of Jerusalem which is in slavery with her children.

26 But the Jerusalem above, who is our mother, is free. 27 And Scripture says of her: Rejoice, barren woman without children, break forth in shouts of joy, you who do not know the pains of childbirth, for many shall be the children of the forsaken mother, more than of the married woman.

28 You, dearly beloved, are children of the promise, like Isaac. 29 But as at that time the child born according to the flesh persecuted Isaac, who was born according to the spirit, so is it now. 30 And what does Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave cannot share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.

31 Brethren, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

GALATIANS 3

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:24:32 +0000

We are saved by faith

3 • 1 How foolish you are, Galatians! How could they bewitch you after Jesus Christ has been presented to you as crucified? 2 I shall ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by the practice of the Law, or by believing the message? 3 How can you be such fools: you begin with the Spirit and end up with the flesh!

4 So you have experienced all this in vain! Would that it were not so! 5 Did God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you, because of your observance of the Law or because you believed in his message? 6 Remember Abraham: he believed God and because of this was held to be a just man. 7 Understand then that those who follow the way of faith are sons and daughters of Abraham.

8 The Scriptures foresaw that by the way of faith, God would give true righteousness to the non-Jewish nations. For God’s promise to Abraham was this: In you shall all the nations be blessed. 9 So now those who take the way of faith receive the same blessing as Abraham who believed; 10 but those who rely on the practice of the Law are under a curse, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not always fulfill everything written in the Law.

11 It is plainly written that no one becomes righteous, in God’s way, by the Law: by faith the righteous shall live. 12 Yet the Law gives no place to faith, for according to it: the one who fulfills the commandments shall have life through them.

13 Now Christ rescued us from the curse of the Law by becoming cursed himself for our sake, as it is written: there is a curse on everyone who is hanged on a tree. 14 So the blessing granted to Abraham reached the pagan nations in and with Christ, and we received the promised Spirit through faith.

The promise, not the Law, was the gift of God

• 15 Brothers, listen to this comparison. When anyone has made his will in the prescribed form, no one can annul it or add anything to it. 16 Well now, what God promised Abraham was for his descendant. Scripture does not say: for the descendants, as if they were many. It means only one: this will be for your descendant, and this is Christ. 17 Now I say this: if God has made a testament in due form, it cannot be annulled by the Law which came four hundred and thirty years later; God’s promise cannot be cancelled. 18 But if we now inherit for keeping the law, it is not because of the promise. Yet that promise was God’s gift to Abraham.

The Law was part of God’s pedagogy

• 19 Why then the Law? It was added because of transgressions; but was only valid until the descendant would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator. 20 A mediator means that there are parties, and God is one.

21 Does the Law then compete with the promises of God? Not at all. Only if we had been given a Law capable of raising life, could righteousness be the fruit of the Law. 22 But the written Law has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ, would be accomplished in those who believe.

We are now sons and daughters of God

23 Before the time of faith had come, the Law confined us and kept us in custody until the time in which faith would show up. 24 The Law then was serving as a slave to look after us until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 With the coming of faith, we are no longer submitted to this guidance.

26 Now, in Christ Jesus, all of you are sons and daughters of God through faith. 27 All of you who were given to Christ through baptism, have put on Christ. 28 Here there is no longer any difference between Jew or Greek, or between slave or freed, or between man and woman: but all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And because you belong to Christ, you are of Abraham’s race and you are to inherit God’s promise.

GALATIANS 2

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:56:24 +0000

Paul with the apostles

2 • 1 After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and Titus came with us. 2 Following a revelation, I went to lay before them the Gospel that I am preaching to the pagans. I had a private meeting with the leaders—lest I should be working or have worked in a wrong way. 3 But they did not impose circumcision, not even on Titus who is Greek and who was with me. 4 But there were some intruders and false brothers who had gained access to watch over the way we live the freedom Christ has given us. They would have us enslaved by the Law, 5 but we refused to yield even for a moment; so that the truth of the Gospel remain intact for you.

6 The others, the more respectable leaders—it does not matter what they were before: God pays no attention to the status of a person—gave me no new instructions. 7 They recognized that I have been entrusted to give the Good News to the pagan nations, just as Peter has been entrusted to give it to the Jews. 8 In the same way that God made Peter the apostle of the Jews, he made me the apostle of the pagans.

9 James, Cephas and John acknowledged the graces God gave me. Those men who were regarded as the pillars of the Church stretched out their hand to me and Barnabas as a sign of fellowship; we would go to the pagans and they to the Jews. 10 We should only keep in mind the poor among them. I have taken care to do this.

The conflict with Peter

• 11 When later Cephas came to Antioch, I confronted him since he deserved to be blamed. 12 Before some of James’ people arrived, he used to eat with non-Jewish people. But when they arrived, he withdrew and did not mingle anymore with them, for fear of the Jewish group. 13 The rest of the Jews followed him in this pretense, and even Barnabas was part of this insincerity. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas publicly: If you who are Jewish agreed to live like the non-Jews, setting aside the Jewish customs, why do you now compel the non-Jews to live like Jews?

• 15 We are Jews by birth; we are not pagan sinners. 16 Yet we know that a person is justified not by practicing the law but by faith in Christ Jesus. So we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may receive true righteousness from faith in Christ Jesus, and not from the practices of the Law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.

17 Now, if in our own effort to be justified in Christ we ourselves have been found to be sinners, then Christ would be at the service of sin. Not so! 18 But look: if we do away with something and then restore it, we admit we did wrong.

19 As for me, the very Law brought me to die to the Law, that I may live for God. I am crucified with Christ. 20 Do I live? It is no longer me, Christ lives in me. My life in this body is life through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 In this way I don’t ignore the gift of God, for, if justification comes through the practice of the Law, Christ would have died for nothing.

Commentaries on Ephesians

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:51:33 +0000

Should we speak of a “letter” from Paul? The letter to the Romans was already for the most part, a theme on faith and salvation. Here it is even more so: no news, no personal message for a particular community, but once more a lengthy dwelling on world salvation. It was, doubtless, destined for the Churches of the Ephesus area.

Why the world, what is happening to humanity? Every day the same question confronts us with more insistence, in the measure that recent years have seen mass movements on the part of very diverse peoples. Even those eager to dominate know they can no longer do so unless they speak for the majority. Where is salvation for humanity? What is its future? Paul answers from his prison in Rome. As we know from Acts (28:16 and 30), Paul was prisoner in Rome during the sixties. In this capital of the only world known to the West, he had ample leisure to evaluate the doctrines then circulating throughout the Roman Empire. They came from the Middle East where they were of special concern for the Christians in the region of Ephesus. Just as other religions claimed to offer a universal way of salvation, they offered Christ, as the only savior of the one humanity.

This letter to the Ephesians seems to have been written after the one to the Colossians. Paul again takes up and develops God’s plan that he must have understood through a revelation. The world was created for humankind to enable it to emerge as the New Human, one family in Christ. All will find themselves, each one in place, around a person capable of welcoming all, each in his own fullness.

Some people think the letter to the Ephesians is not Paul’s: how could he speak in an impersonal way to a community where he had worked for more than two years, approximately from 55 to 57 AD? As we have said, the letter must have been addressed, not only to the Christians of Ephesus, but more widely to the communities of the valley of Lycus: Hierapolis, Laodicea (Col 4:13 and 16) and Colossus which had been evangelized by Paul’s companions, in particular by Epaphras (Col 1:7).

Others think that the questions raised are more suited to a time later than Paul’s: like the letters of Titus and Timothy, this would be his only in a very broad sense. When one is aware of the very low level of Christian literature, immediately after the death of the apostles, it is difficult to accept that a letter of such theological certitude and of such doctrinal worth could have matured in someone other than Paul, even if he had left the writing of it to one of his disciples, Tychicus (Eph 6:21) or Timothy (Col 1:1).

• 1.3 This first page of the letter to the Ephesians is the best comprehensive expression of the Christian mystery in the Bible. It also serves to balance Paul’s great presentation in his letter to the Romans, which could appear to center God’s work in the tragedy of sinful humanity. The Letter to the Ephesians, like the Gospel of John, speaks of a re-creation of the world whereas the Letter to the Romans used more juridical terms: debt and reparation for sin.

Blessed be God! Usually Paul starts his letters with praise and thanksgiving. Here, however, the prayer is unusually lengthy: Paul gives thanks and at the same time proclaims God’s mysterious plan, which he understood through a revelation (3:3).

His mysterious design (v. 9). Actually Paul says: this mystery; this term designated at the time a decision or a secret doctrine. Here Paul speaks of the plan of God the Creator: a plan rooted in the mystery of the three divine Persons. We know that from God the Father proceed the Son and the Spirit, and from him they receive his very divinity, the three being only one God. Besides this communication and this effusion of life in God, before the creation of the world, God the Father wished to communicate his riches, beyond himself, to created beings. It is there that we have the beginning of all human history. God willed that sons and daughters (v. 5) multiply around his only Son and in him, be capable of receiving his Spirit and returning it to him. They would return to him at the end of history, forming one body (v. 10).

God chose us in Christ (v. 4). Note the expression in Christ on which we have commented in 1 Cor 1:4. Every creature comes from God through his Son in whom God contemplates his own riches, and on whom he pours his love. We are as God has loved us, and we are in him, in some way, from the beginning.

In creating us free, God knows that our freedom is fragile: it will be difficult for us to give him a filial response. How can we return to God, at the heart of his mystery, without dying to ourselves? All history must necessarily be a continual death and resurrection, for nations as for persons. So Divine Wisdom foresaw that the Son would be in our midst, with his cross and his resurrection, to show us the love of the Father who has called us (v. 5). And of course, wherever the Son is, the Spirit will be given (vv. 7 and 13).

In Christ we obtain freedom, sealed by his blood (v. 7). This does not mean that Christ shed his blood to make amends to his Father offended by sin, as if God were resentful as we often are, and as if his dignity were offended. Paul is referring to a biblical law: the emancipation of slaves used to be signed in blood (Ex 21:6).

Sealed with the Spirit (v. 13). The Jews were branded, “sealed” in the flesh by the circumcision ritual that showed they belonged to God. Christians, on the other hand, had received the Holy Spirit who acted in them: from the Spirit come faith, hope and love, the many forms of service, the gift of knowledge, miracles and healings. These gifts are the most obvious proof that they have become children of God. These gifts are only a foretaste of all the marvels that God has in store for us.

Paul distinguishes something like two insights: God’s plan in eternity (vv. 1-10) and its realization in time (vv. 11-14). The last two stanzas correspond to two stages in sacred history:

– We have been chosen and called (v. 11). Paul speaks for himself and in the name of the Jewish people chosen to be the people of God.

– You now… (v. 13). Here Paul means the pagan people like the Ephesians, whom he is addressing. And so, the fullness of time had come, that is to say the time of the Gospel proclaimed to the entire world so that everyone could receive the gifts of the Spirit.

This page clarifies some essential points of faith.

From eternity he destined us in love (v. 5). Here we recognize what Paul has affirmed in Romans 8:29-30. We cannot omit the word “predestination.” Many have used this word in the past in a different way from Paul’s. While Paul shows the Father’s decision to pour on created sons and daughters the infinite love which is lived within God, these preachers later spoke of a God who decides freely (and even capriciously) who will, and who will not, be saved. On this subject see “PREDESTINATION” in Romans 9.

It is impossible for us to understand how we can be free if we are known by God in eternity. It is not for that reason that we should share the doubts and anguish of those who believe they are subjected to a destiny or a fearsome “will of God.” In reality, we are “subject” to love and blessings (3) that await our response (see com. on Rom 9).

Paul does not speak of condemnation of anyone: he only affirms that God gives proof of a special love for those he calls to become members of Christ.

Many Christians are shocked when told they have received more than others, that in no other place have people been gifted with truth as they have, and they think: would it not be more honest and more humble to accept that all religions have their own truth? Yes, in a way all have some truth, but to doubt this unique grace that is to know God in Christ, is to deny the entire revelation of the Bible. See on this subject the note “The three sayings of God” in Genesis 12.

God chose us in Christ (v. 4). Many Christian authors have spoken as if, in the beginning, God created man without considering his possible fall and that Christ only came to save the lost sinner. This is not what Paul says here: from the beginning the coming of Christ and the gift of the Spirit together with the laws of life and the course of history are mysteriously linked with the order existing in God himself.

The Beloved (v. 6) is always the first for God and for us the desire to be “saved” cannot be the basis of our faith. It would be just as egoistic as practicing one’s religion in order to enjoy good health. The Son has revealed to us the Glory of the Father and how he returned to the Father. He wished to draw us out of our egoism, even our religious egoism (Jn 17 and Phil 2:9).

• 15. I have been told of your faith and your affection. Paul delights in the faith of the Ephesians but, above all, he prays they may have hope that must be the source of their dynamism. He describes the stages of hope this way: to know the Father; to appreciate the inheritance set apart for his saints; to understand the power of God to bring us to the realization of these hopes.

It is this hope that cracked open the immobility of ancient societies. Paul lived in a world where hope was considered an illness. Any project to transform humanity was taken as an illusion, and so the hopes of a nascent science were quickly smothered. Believers, on the contrary, lived the experience of a resurrection. In Christian countries appeared the certainty of a common destiny of humanity (the word “humanity” was non-existent at the time). People were beginning to be seen as persons in a truer way and it was this that set history in motion, never to return. How astonishing to see in our world so many Christians who believe, but who have very little hope: are they not the ones who carry the hope of the world?

Far above all power (v. 21). In Paul’s days, neither Jews nor Christians doubted that the world was governed by supernatural powers, “angels.” They called them: Rulers, Powers, Authorities, Dominion, and Paul was saying to them: all these Powers are inferior to Christ. In our days we express ourselves differently. Nevertheless, we see the universe subject to the laws of nature, to the forces of matter and of life. It is also subject to obscure forces: collective prejudices, vice and fanaticism. These ruled the world, preventing the emergence of humanity, until the coming of Christ: see Gal 3:23.

God has put all things under the feet of Christ (v. 22). This means the same as the words of our creed: “Jesus is seated at the right hand of God.” It means that in rising, Christ, the God-Human became the First in the universe. All things under his feet except humankind.

Paul adds: “He made him head of the Church.” Christ acts differently in two areas: in the world, where he is the invisible center in charge; in the Church, of which he is the head, where he can show the riches of his Spirit.

• 2.1 The path of humans without Christ leads to death.

We obeyed the urges of our human nature and consented to its desires (v. 3). There is no need to seek a clearer affirmation of what we call original sin. Paul does not speak of a fault committed before our personal sins, and in addition to the sins we are responsible for. It is a flaw easily seen in human condition and in all our acts; it is the liabilities of our life insofar as God has not taken us in hand.

The account of Genesis (chaps. 2–3) has placed in the past this “original” sin, as well as creation. It is a way of speaking proper to Hebrew culture. In fact both our creation by God (v. 10) and our revolt against him are a part of our daily reality.

He raised us to life with Christ (v. 6). Actually an authentic conversion is experienced as a resurrection. Paul is saying more: nothing can stop God’s merciful plan. He sees beyond time and has already raised us with Christ. We are seated with him in heaven, that is to say, assured of victory.

• 11. Another aspect of the human condition without Christ: death goes hand in hand with divisions. Before Christ, humanity was divided and people did not know our common Father. Since they were not mature enough for a quick unification in the true faith, God took that into account when he began to prepare for Christ’s coming. He chose a people and to avoid their being contaminated by the errors of the pagans, he separated them through a law that forbade their living together with other peoples (see Mk 7:14 and Acts 10:1). So there was in the Jerusalem Temple, far from the Sanctuary, a patio open to the pagans and another one, near the Sanctuary reserved for the Jews, and a wall between the two. There came a time when this dividing line became a sign of all the barriers that Christ was going to destroy.

He taught them to share life with non-Jews, forbidden until then. Christ, put on the cross by Jews and pagans, overcomes the hatred of all by a love that forgives and, once risen, gathers all people to himself.

Thus, just as the cross is made of two pieces, one vertical, towards heaven and the other, horizontal, towards the earth, so peace goes in two directions: towards God and towards others. He has made the two peoples one… and reconciled us both to God. These are the two sides of only one thing, because human violence is the other expression of our inability to meet God.

Christ united them, that is to say, whether we like it or not, the Gospel will destroy all differences between people. No matter how much segregation emerges in our societies, our laws and our institutions will collapse perhaps through violence, but better by being discredited through the sacrifices of their victims.

In one Spirit. It is only through the Spirit that each one has communion with others. Often, unity among people means one party, one ideology, one religion. Imposed order destroys both the one who accepts it and the one capable of silencing his adversaries.

Unity in the Church is not uniformity: the believers are not of one mold. It is not a question of having the same options regarding human problems; we have the right to differ in our view of faith provided that we accept all that the Credo contains. The Spirit enables each person to be true to himself and to continue “in communion” with the community. This is how the “new creature” is born: not as the work of politics or of any ideology, but as the work of God, since we are dealing with a new creation as Paul says.

You are of the household of God. In biblical language this means: to belong to God’s family. From there, Paul moves on to another image: you are the household, namely, the true temple of God. The community of believers form the temple, or better, is being transformed into the temple of God.

This imposing vision of the Church and our unity in the Church will perhaps astonish many Christians of today who are usually more aware of their responsibilities towards the world than towards our antiquated Church. Yet, of what Spirit shall we be bearers, and shall we do this work if we are not supported by a community? Solidarity with those who share our options and our culture cannot replace participation in the Christian community. There are probably many things in the Christian community we are not happy with. However, it would be a bad sign if we were unable to recognize in it the truth that is missing in our non-Christian friends, and without which we would lose our reason for living.

• 3.1 Prisoner of Christ. Paul writes this letter from his prison in Rome, but he does not say: prisoner “for the cause” of Christ. He is prisoner of Christ, for he cannot escape from Christ’s continual hold on him, nor from the apostolate that God has destined for him (1 Cor 9:16).

Paul emphasizes what he has meditated on in jail, what seems most new in the work of Christ: this is the “mystery,” or God’s plan calling all people to become a single body, without any racial distinctions. Jesus proclaimed this equality (Mt 20), but the early Christians needed several divine interventions before they were convinced (Acts 10).

The heavenly forces… (v. 10): see commentary on Gal 3:23 and Eph 1:21. We would not be distorting Paul’s thinking by saying that multinational directors, presidents and the great of this world are going to discover the true face of God, who manifests his glory in his poor and his saints (2 Thes 1:10), through the Church.

How fitting it would be to also express in poetry the wonderment of all nature, in discovering what God’s power has achieved after billions of years. Paul believes he is approaching the end, and we as well in this century where events move faster and faster, and we discover every day new signs of human awareness at a world level.

• 14. And now I kneel… without further delay. Paul moves from his presentation to prayer. Such is the way of the interior person (v. 16) who is not satisfied with thinking about God or talking about him as if he were an object. The Spirit preserves in him the awareness of this Presence that gives him life. As St. Teresa said: “I carry the heart of my God and the God of my heart everywhere.”

The Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth has received its name (v. 15). Our time has greatly devalued “the Father” with the obsession of an authority that would smother the personality of its children. This is not Paul’s way: he marvels before the One who alone is from all eternity. The Father is the source of the divine being, from him comes the order and the mystery of the divine persons. From him the universe draws its riches. Paul, speaking of the common destiny of all peoples, recalls that each one of them, every family, has received its name from the Father, which means its identity and its dignity.

Certainly we must recognize that the word Father no longer has the same meaning as in Paul’s time, when father was given a greater authority and respect. Once woman found her rightful place in the family and in society we are inclined to speak of “parents” rather than of “father.” Yet it is not by chance that God revealed himself in a culture—that of the Hebrews—where God was a masculine figure. Indeed they had already passed the primitive culture in which the woman was the center of family and the religion subsequently gave highest place to a female divinity. Among the neighboring peoples gods and goddesses went together. So God could have revealed to them with diverse faces, but this he did not do. Even if the Bible states that in God are all the riches of paternal and maternal love (Is 49:14), it keeps to the word Father. In so doing it insists on the liberty and initiative of God in all that he does: the universe and we ourselves have not come from God as a spontaneous “emanation”, as naturally born from the bosom of the all-powerful divinity. Everything was a lucid and creative decision.

Therefore, the family, with parental authority, is the basis of society, and fatherhood is also seen in the Church: the succession of bishops, with the authority of the hierarchy not dependent on people’s votes, is part of the divine order in the Church. A society which does not acknowledge fathers and which scorns marriage, as well as “spontaneous” churches, are devious structures.

The love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge (v. 19). Paul is certainly thinking of the love Christ has shown and continues to show him personally even in proportion to his trials. The knowledge and experience of this love surpasses all that could ever be imagined. We shall not find it through books and study or transcendental meditation. It will be freely given to us, on God’s initiative, on the way of love of which Christ made himself the model and the center.

• 4.1 Here, Paul returns to an important problem in communities where the style was still very free, we might say very charismatic, since the community counted on the unpredictable action of the Spirit through the charisms of different members. It is necessary that all in their own vocation work for the building up of the one body. Paul enthusiastically names all that we have in common through Christ and the action of the Spirit. It is not merely a temple that is constructed (see chapter 2:19-22); it is the Body of Christ, of the Perfect Man the mature one, in which Christ expresses his fullness.

Jesus of Nazareth lived humbly until his death only once, but having been made the Head of humanity through his resurrection, he suffers everywhere; he works in every field of human activity; gives his life in every possible way; he gathers in himself every form of love, and lives the whole diversity of human existence in the person of his members.

Then, we will no longer be like children. Paul suggests that the Ephesians are still children, at least from time to time, when they allow themselves to be influenced by some trend of opinion. He invites them to become a mature community, capable of being led by the truth, and of building itself up through love. We too should ask ourselves if we have really gone beyond the time when the “faithful” constantly waited for others to think for them, guide them and push them.

• 17. The old self and the new self. This image of Paul opposes two kinds of life that co-exist in every society and in a certain sense, in each of us. Conversion has not installed us in a state of perfection; even if we are at peace with God in a very real sense (Rom 5:1) unity is not in us. We experience temptation and struggle; our decisions both small and great lead us in one of two directions, either the old self hopelessly ruined and a slave of selfishness, or a person transfigured by love.

The self according to God. God created Man in his image, but the one who is truly this image is the risen Christ, conqueror of sin and of death. Here, as elsewhere in the Bible, Man is both Christ and humanity at the same time, and it is each one of us at our place in the “Body.” All that we admire in Christ is also for our benefit.

The white garment that adults put on at baptism denotes the change of life that they are beginning. This renewal may also take place after a retreat or when God unexpectedly makes us abandon a routine Christian life devoid of ambition. Then we put on Christ with rediscovered faith.

Paul immediately points out some of the moral requirements of this daily renewal: frankness, sobriety, cleanliness of language and imagination. Christian faith does not allow us to live in a carefree way, as did the oriental religions in the time of Paul. There much was said about renaissance and knowledge of mysteries, but nothing about the slavery of sex and the evil of social life.

Old self, new self correspond with other expressions of Paul: “according to the flesh” or “according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:5); “children of darkness” or “children of light” (Eph 5:8); “slaves of sin” or “persons free in Christ” (Gal 5:1).

Do not sadden the Holy Spirit. It is easy to understand this expression if we think of the sadness we feel each time we reject a good idea, a desire to do better: sadness of the “Holy Spirit” who suggested it in the first place, sadness of our own spirit, for it knows what we have lost.

• 5.1 Here are a few elements of a new way to live, as was already shown in the previous verses.

To imitate God (Rom 5:6-11) who loves everyone, the good and the bad (Mt 5:48). In a more tangible way we have a model in Christ, the Son of God, who gave himself out of love for us, as the way, the light and life.

Reject all that is shameful (v. 12) and that can only be done in the dark. It is true that much that was shameful has become normal today for many people: will it be so for a person who often seeks light and looks for it in the face in Christ? The witness of one Christian who lives in light (and still more of a community) is enough to condemn what has been taken as normal (v. 13).

To be more sensible and responsible in our lives. Because these days are evil (v. 16): that means that if we are unable to judge, choose, make a personal decision, the very current of daily events will keep us in mediocrity or will lead us to evil. Everything changes when a believer, a couple, a group “awakens” and takes daily or weekly time out to discover what is God’s will for them, in the time and circumstances in which they live.

Do not get drunk (v. 18)! We need stimulants; there is nothing wrong in experiencing a sort of trance to the point of feeling happy and relaxed when ice is broken and tongues untied. The Bible has praise for wine. It is impossible, however, to experience at the same time the ecstasy that comes from the spirit and that which is the effect of alcohol, drugs and dangerous diversions. We must constantly make choices.

Sing and celebrate the Lord in your heart, giving thanks (v. 19)! Experience the comfort of the Spirit and find it in a community gathering.

• 21. In the passage 5:21–6:9, Paul more or less repeats what he wrote in the letter to the Colossians (3:18–4:1). Here he has so much on his mind on the role of Christ as head of redeemed humanity that he will develop in an unexpected way the meaning of marriage.

So wives to their husbands (v. 22). It is not Paul who in the name of God demands that the wife be submissive: it is the society of the time that required it. And Paul says: “Let all kinds of submission become obedience to Christ.”

So, even if Paul’s way of speaking reflects the culture of his day with regard to marriage, there is no reason to scorn his teaching in support of feminism. There have been and there are different cultural models regarding the relationship between husband and wife. In our time the models differ in the economically developed countries from those of the Third World, for the middle and lower classes. What is still better, it is each couple that should find its own balance and the taking of initiatives according to the natural authority and the capacity of each one.

In any case, whether one partner makes a decision or follows it, neither will feel superior or inferior since the ideal for both is to “make oneself slave” (Mk 9:35). Paul says: The husband is the head but being the head is not the same as being the boss. Think of Christ: he has authority since he is the truth of God (which the husband is not to his wife); Paul however prefers to show him as the savior of his partner baptized humanity.

Paul points out what is essential in conjugal love when he recalls the word of Scripture: a man shall leave… (v. 31). He applies this word to the union of God with humanity in Christ, the Beloved (Mk 2:19). For marriage contains a mystery, that is a divine treasure which cannot be understood before the coming of Christ. When it is said that marriage is a “sacrament,” that does not mean primarily that there is a Church ceremony: it signifies that through marriage and the couples who live a life of love “according to Christ,” the mystery of the love of God is manifested among humankind. That is, in our midst, the sign of a covenant that God made with humanity, as the husband with his wife: a covenant of love, fidelity, fruitfulness.

He gave himself up for her. Christ finds us in our sins and he takes charge of us, even to the ultimate consequences: he gives his life to purify us. This is the way to show the main quality of Christian love, which is faithfulness. The self-gift of the spouse is permanent and from that moment on, each will do his best to save the other, that is, to help the other grow and be better. The perfect couple is not the one that lives without problems and accepts mediocrity, but the two who compel each other to give their best.

He washed her by the baptism in the Word (see James 1:18-21 and Jn 15:3). If the ritual of baptism is important, what is even more important is for us to welcome the Word of God that gives us life.

Many young people flee marriage, partly because they fear a risk (total fidelity is indeed a way of losing one’s life: Mk 8:35), partly because they consider that their love is their own business. Paul shows that Christ’s love for us, however personal it may be, never forgets his love for all those who make up his body. It is an example: married Christians are invited to have their place in the transformation of the world through the radiation of their love and their service to others.

• 6.1 Paul reminds children that God asks for obedience, and parents that they must not neglect their duty as educators (see commentary on Sirac 30:1-2). Parents have the difficult task of leading their children to true freedom, teaching them first to obey a law, to serve rather than be served, to share rather than demand. Later, they will show them how to follow the calls of the Spirit, well beyond what is considered good or bad all around them.

Paul reminds the slave of his nobility. Let him live without servility: this is the first step toward genuine liberation.

• 10. Paul has said what he had to say. What does his invitation to be strong mean, when he takes his examples from military life? Is it because he feels the Christians of Ephesus are not sufficiently strong? See verses 18-20: Paul invites them, without saying it, to compare their situation with his. Free or slaves, most of them were people of modest means of the cities near Ephesus. Subjected for a long time to the Roman Empire that imposed peace on them, they were free of serious problems. They were not rich but they were able to content themselves with little. Under a Mediterranean sky they had abundant light and a friendly, natural environment. They found the faith at a time when it cost them little; what would they do the day the Empire became an obstacle and when suddenly they would be classed a bad lot, responsible for all that was wrong?

This is why Paul warns them: peace is only provisional, for the demon is waiting for his hour (11 and 16). Paul asks them to persevere in prayer: the only effective arms against evil are those that Christ has left us: truth, faith, the word of God… and if they believe they have found salvation, let them exert themselves to evangelize others.

Commentaries on Galatians

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:50:02 +0000

Who were the Galatians? This rather imprecise name can denote either the communities of Pisidia evangelized by Paul on his first mission (Acts 13:13–14:25), or those that Paul would have founded in the course of his second mission (Acts 16:5–18:23).

Paul writes because the community is in danger. Strange, he does not mention scandals, a conflict of authority as was the case in Corinth. There are indeed tensions and doubts: certain people overdo it and would like to restore Jewish practices. However it would seem neither the promoters of this return to the Law nor those who oppose it would expect such a strong warning from Paul. In fact he has seen through what they do: they want religious practices because they have not understood, or because they have forgotten that to be a Christian is not primarily to belong to a religion but to have faith.

The discovery of the Gospel had been for the Galatians a bath in freedom. Those who were Jews escaped religious practices that touched the whole of existence. Those who were Greek (and pagan) were liberated from a fatalist vision of the world and social prejudices. In both cases it was a complete change. Were they capable of following Paul when he spoke to them of his own experience, when he affirmed that Christ was able to fill our existence, that the Spirit directs us much better than religious obligations do?

At first, the Galatians lived what had been Paul’s life, but it was difficult for the community to maintain themselves along such a new line. Once the time of the first enthusiasm was over the great majority of these new Christians felt the need of rules and practices. They had faith in Christ but by no means could all of them be “spiritual” people.

There were persons who offered a response. They were, doubtless, Christians of Jewish origin, and they knew the benefits of a law. They aspired to assume the direction of the community, but chapter 6 of this letter shows that they also had ulterior motives: a return to Jewish practices opened all the doors of Jewish society. The Jewish communities flourishing throughout the Roman Empire were united and strengthened by common bonds; such relationship proved to be beneficial to them in many ways. Some Christians would prefer that kind of security rather than take the risk of embracing a new faith, and facing challenges and opposition which Christian communities had to face.

Paul’s response is severe; it will, perhaps, appear quite negative vis-a-vis religious practices: but it is the word of God. Relying on the rules and practices of a religion is to enclose oneself within a system, where the reward of one’s good deeds is constantly expected. Faith, on the contrary, is to give oneself to God and to his mystery, as awesome as the cross which is its symbol.

This is enough to understand that the letter to the Galatians speaks to the present when so many are searching for certitude. On the other hand in as much as the Church has to carry a number of Christians who have only a slight experience of life in the Spirit, it is always inclined to descend to their level and to become a religion again. So we must continually react and become conscious again of our identity: rediscover life by faith.

• 1.1 Paul reminds them and stresses the fact that he has been called and sent directly by God. Speaking of apostles he does not first think of Jesus’ Twelve who had been sent by him, but of others who had this title, sent by the Church and God, but in fact chosen by people.

• 6. I am surprised at how quickly you have abandoned God… and have gone to another gospel. There are many ways of preaching the Gospel and making of it a different one, no longer the Good News given by God through Jesus. Some of the Galatians who were of Jewish origin did not understand it. The style of life, in appearance more religious, that they were trying to impose on the community, was in fact a way of doubting Jesus, who alone is Savior.

The one we preached to you (v. 8). Astonishing words for us who are used to receiving different points of view: was Paul then infallible? He knew he was bearer, not only of the Word of God, but also of the “truth of the Gospel.” In fact the faith of the Church has always been the faith of the apostles: we believe in Jesus as the apostles believed, understood and taught. It is impossible to make this a subject of discussion without departing from the Christian faith. The doctrine received from the apostles and guarded by the Church is what we call Tradition.

• 11. The enemies of Paul criticize his authority saying that he was not an apostle like those Jesus had chosen. Paul will then briefly recall his itinerary: see on this subject Acts 9:1-31.

To reveal in me his Son (v. 16). Paul has not only “seen” Christ, he discovered him intimately present in himself. The risen Christ, Word and Wisdom of God, gave him in a unique illumination all the truth of faith (not all the truths which are only partial aspects which we may discover in different stages of life).

The case of Paul, whom Christ called directly, is special. Yet we see that Paul did not impose himself on the Church. Christ sent him to ask Ananias for baptism. Later he saw “Cephas” (the Aramean name for Peter), recognized head of the Church, and James, responsible for the Church of Jerusalem. This “union” or “communion” is indispensable for acting in the name of the Church.

Paul says: They acknowledged the graces God gave me (2:9): they recognized that the Spirit of God was in Paul’s work. The leaders in the Church do not impose a personal policy, but they try to recognize the call of the Holy Spirit.

• 2.1 This meeting in Jerusalem is related in Acts 15 and its commentary is found there.

When they became Christians, the Jews by race and religion continued to observe the Law of Moses in which the great commandments (to know God, not to murder…), the rituals of worship, and national customs are combined. When people of different races began to be converted to Christ, Paul demanded that they should not be forced to follow the Mosaic Law. Naturally, they had to respect their neighbor and were not to steal, but this emerges from the Gospel without having to impose the Mosaic Law.

So that the truth of the Gospel remain intact in you (v. 5). Because the Gospel frees us from all that limits our horizon. God is pure liberty and pure gift. May he be seen (it is not wrong) as the fabulous creator of an immense universe, or (what has more truth) as unique Love and Lover, Father of all who are able to return his love, he cannot tie us to a certain way of dressing nor enclose himself in our cooking and our times of prayer. Time has come for reciprocal kindness (Jn 1:17).

We are concerned, and rightly so, for keeping true faith. Here Paul shows that keeping the truth of the Gospel is not only a matter of formulas; our very way of life, free vis-à-vis of all that is not God, proclaims what the Gospel is.

It does not matter what they were before (v. 6). Peter, James and John had no titles, or money or culture. They may even have been despised by more learned believers. Paul does not pay attention to that; he looks upon them only as the leaders of the Church.

• 11. In the church, Paul feels it is his duty to reprimand the supreme leader, the first pope. Jesus promised Peter that his faith would not fail but he did not say that he would never make a mistake.

Jews did not eat with pagan non-Jews since, for them, it would have been something “impure,” a blemish. When some Jews were converted and entered the Church, if they had maintained this attitude toward their Christian brothers and sisters from another race, they would have kept an inadmissible division within a community renewed by Christ.

Peter (or Cephas: see Jn 1:42) knows that now all people are equal and he accepts for himself, not to take the Law into account. Yet he is afraid of what his friends and compatriots will think. He does not realize that, in order to please them, he is endangering the evangelization of those who are not Jewish. These people, in being seen as impure, are no longer at home in the Church. They are pressured to adopt the Jewish customs and with this, they will become alien to their own people. If they do not comply, they will be second-class citizens in the Church.

This problem is always with us, since often those who give the tone in the Christian community belong to a certain social level: others have no reason to do everything as they do. Each one in the Church comes from a particular milieu with its culture and language: we have the right to be shocked by what is foreign to our own culture but we must bear many things we do not like. The Church has to be open to diverse peoples.

• 15. We are Jews… Paul develops here what his reply to Peter contained: when you welcomed Christian faith, you gave up any hope of being rewarded for fulfilling the commandments; you put instead all your trust in Jesus as a Savior. This challenge has made Christian faith very strong. If now, for fear of scandalizing the Jews you decline from eating with non-Jews, all will understand that you have gone too far and that in fact the Law is still valid.

If we do away with something and then restore it (v. 18). This is exactly what the Galatians are doing in their turn. Paul taught them to be free of the prejudices of their pagan religion just as of the practices of the Old Testament. Now without these practices they feel naked: was faith in Christ sufficient when all around them each one had religion and practices? It was not pleasant to be circumcised, but at least, it gave you an identity.

We have here a summary of what Paul will develop four years later in chapters 2–8 in his letter to the Romans. We must not let the defense of Christian freedom, something that was so new and had not finished cracking cultural and social molds, hide from us what Paul would most like to transmit: “Christ lives in me.” Paul is not a theoretician; what makes him write today and tomorrow urges him to cross seas and traverse mountains is a passionate love of Jesus-God. It would need audacity to comment on this dwelling of Christ in those he loves and who love him. It has taken nothing less than this love without reserve, to bring about the greatest achievement of Christian faith and yet the least noticed: pardon and humility among others: with Christ I am crucified.

• 3.1 A good number of these Galatians are of Jewish origin, the others already have some notion of the Old Testament given that it is read in Church meetings (the New Testament does not yet exist). Paul then will recall first their own experience in baptism, when they received the Spirit; he will later interpret this experience in reading the Old Testament.

You begin with the Spirit and end up with the flesh (v. 3). This phrase has a double meaning. First the Galatians experienced the working of the Holy Spirit and his miracles and now they want to receive circumcision in the flesh. In another sense, they started with the truth of God that was in Jesus: that is “the spirit.” Now they go back to Jewish observances which, though they come from God, many times remained, as any religious practice, at a human level: the flesh.

Those who disturbed the Galatians said: you belong to Christ, but Christ is a descendant of Abraham and a Jew. Then follow Abraham and do as the Jews do: and so, along with Christ, you will be children of Abraham. Paul reports that one is not a son of Abraham or a son of God by race: this is a point that he develops more in Romans 4.

Let us not think that such prejudices have disappeared. There are some who think they are Catholics because they have been baptized at birth: they forget that without faith, baptism is meaningless.

Righteousness or justification (3:8). Like in Romans Paul will use this word abundantly. It means that through faith we are set right with God and our self is re-ordered so as to enter his ways.

• 15. We know that, in the Bible, Testament and Covenant mean the same: the Old Testament is the first covenant of God with humankind. Here Paul compares God with someone making a testament.

First God made a solemn covenant with Abraham. He did not demand anything of him, but made a promise to him. All that God expected of Abraham’s children in order to save them was that they would trust him. After such an important initiative from God, the Law which the Lord gave to Moses later did not really change the situation. Therefore, Paul says, most of the Jews are wrong when they are so concerned about observing the Law and so little concerned about opening their hearts.

• 19. In the preceding paragraph Paul began to show that there were different stages in faith history. The Jews already saw a progression in the revelation of God: they spoke of successive covenants of God with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. For them the progress was that God had given a more complete law and that his choice was narrowing to the point of concentrating all his promises on the small Jewish community. Paul, as we have seen, shows that progress is elsewhere: God has replaced a religion where faith was, in fact, obedience to a law, by faith which is gift of self to God, as response to God, person to person.

Here Paul says more: there is a pedagogy of God in this change. “The Law led us to the school” (3:24): let us look at the word “pedagogy”: in Greek it signifies “take the child to school.” At this time the children of well-to-do families were entrusted to a servant called “pedagogue” who took the child to school but did not teach. Here Paul says: the Law was the servant, while Christ is the master.

Why then the Law? Paul will raise the question in Rom 3:1; 5:20; 7:7. He gives here his response in 4:1. He points out the negative character of the Law that constantly denounces and condemns: The Law closed out every viewpoint other than that of sin (v. 22). It is good that for a time God obliges us to keep our eyes fixed on our sins, our infidelity and ingratitude towards him, but he is much more concerned in making us grow, consequently becoming able to deal with him, person to person. Some will say: “This simplicity with God, we shall have up there.” That, however, is not what God wishes. He wants his kingdom to be among us now.

The Law was the means of leading the Jewish people to a better understanding of human hard-heartedness in relation to God, and giving them a sense of sin. It served as an education of a people during a certain time.

With this we can understand verse 19: with Moses as their mediator. Paul does not consider the Law something divine and eternal, dictated by God himself. He thinks that God let the angels in charge of diverse historical forces decide together on this temporary arrangement, so that the law would fit a particular time and circumstance; then Moses had to reconcile their diverse demands. The same thought is expressed in 4:3. In short, the Old Testament already contains the divine truth, but it has come down to us through mediators who adapted it to their ways and obscured it.

For each of us, it is necessary to have been submitted to a law, to have learned to obey without discussion during our early years. This first formation is irreplaceable; later we shall know how to obey our conscience without confusing it with our caprices. It was the same for God’s people as a whole: the Law led them to the freedom of the Gospel (5:1). So, if Christ has already taught us, why return to Jewish practice?

• 4.1 As long as the heir of the host is a child. God made people to be free, holy, strong, in the image of Christ. No one is born as an adult; she must be a child first. Similarly humankind has to go through infancy. There was a primitive society, a naive science, a simple culture, a transitional religion. People remained “among slaves”; Paul saw them dependent on “created forces” that govern the world. For him the laws of nature as well as the rules and prejudices of primitive peoples are one with the invisible forces of good and evil (the word we translated as “created forces” also means “directing principle”: Eph 3:10; Col 2:15). Now, through Christ, the great door of freedom opens to us. First, Christ liberates people from religious superstitions and from the prejudices that prevent them from knowing the Father and from becoming his children.

He came born of woman and subject to the Law (v. 4). Christ saves humans because he is a man. Christ came first as the savior of the Jewish people and, to save them, he became one of them. He received his whole formation from the Law, namely, from the people and religion of the Old Testament. This Law was highly positive, but, as time passed, we had to be redeemed from the yoke of this Law to receive the fullness of divine truth.

We must see in this obedience of Christ born of woman and subject to the Law a fundamental disposition of the plan of salvation: God saves us by becoming one of us. The same is now true of the Church, which saves people rather than giving to them or “being interested in them.” The Church cannot bring them a permanent and transforming salvation if it does not share in their very condition.

This is the reason why the Lord wants Third World churches to bear the cross of the people of their continents: their marginalization, their sufferings and humiliations, in order to lead them to authentic salvation. When there are only middle-class churches following occidental or Roman patterns, these churches are unfaithful to their mission.

You want to be enslaved again? (v. 9). We soon tire of liberty, for it always complicates life. It would be much simpler to be told: “This is right, that is a sin.”

Paul said to the Galatians: “You belong to Christ, be guided by his Spirit.” Did they really want to be more pliable with their ready-made judgments? Were they ready to restrain that kind of pride that accompanies the eagerness for social recognition? If not, there would be no Spirit. The Galatians actually preferred to walk along familiar paths. They kept certain festive days and obeyed the rules just like the Jews; they were, in fact, quite content with a mediocre faith and a love that risks nothing.

• 12. Here, a few more personal lines. These Galatians loved Paul, and Paul loved them, but some aspect of faith escaped them. That is why they felt more at ease with others than with Paul, those who had a sense of “religion” and did not fail to profit from it.

• 21. In the history of his ancestor Abraham, Paul discovers an image of conflict opposing the true believer to the “Judaizers”—those who say one is saved by religiously observing practices.

At the start of sacred history is Abraham’s faith and the promise God made to him. It should be noted that this promise was not to be inherited in the same way as family goods, which had to be distributed among all the children. The promise will not come to Ishmael born like any other. (Paul says: “born according to the flesh”.) Rather, what God promised was only destined for the son of promise, Isaac: the one who was born through a miraculous and free intervention of God. Thus, from the very beginning of the Bible, we see that we do not come to faith and to God’s inheritance because we have a right to them, but through grace.

By clinging to their religious observances, the Jews were forgetting that they were, above all, the people of the promise. Chosen by God in preference to other people, their mission was to announce that there are promises of God for all nations. They were wrong in thinking thus: since we are chosen by God, let everyone do what we do and observe our practices. Instead they should have shared their hopes with others; they should have taught others to believe in God’s promise and not put their trust in particular religious practices.

Hagar, the slave woman who gave birth to Ishmael, ancestor of the Arabs, becomes the image of the people of the first covenant, people who received the Law on Mount Sinai in Arabia: they did not achieve true freedom and held the earthly Jerusalem as their capital.

While Sarah, the free woman, with her son Isaac, born according to the divine promise, represents God’s new covenant with those who believe in his promises. These are the free people, the Christians who wait for the heavenly Jerusalem.

Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Abraham sent him away. This means: the inadequately converted Jews are disturbing the Galatians; the Church, then, has to send them away.

• 5.1 Paul does not want converts to be circumcised. See how firmly he speaks to them: this would be a falling away from grace. Why? It was not a sin, Paul could well have tolerated without encouraging it.

Yet for Paul, you cannot preach the Gospel in an authentic way without taking stances that upset others. Again “the truth of the Gospel” is not only in the formulas of dogma: it is also in the stand you take, showing how free we are. If the Gospel is liberation, the apostles should adopt, at least on certain points, positions that disturb and shock. Jesus gave an example in violating the holiest of laws, that of the Sabbath, when it was not necessary to do so.

Such is the necessary scandal in all Christian behavior, which will never be as scandalous as was Jesus’ death on a cross (see 1 Cor 1:17). To save people means, somehow, making them discover who they are before God, and then bringing them to confront the forces that have kept them subjugated and alienated. This is why Paul was so opposed to perpetuating Jewish practices. Following Paul, we could ask in our days: Who are those who give in to prejudices and alienating powers, and who are the persecuted (5:11; 6:12)? Oftentimes, the Gospel is lived more authentically in Christian groups that are politically aware and active than in groups that limit themselves to liturgical practices.

• 13. If the Galatians are looking out for religious practices it is partly because they feel that faith should be expressed in a concrete way. Here Paul tells them: if you are anxious for putting faith into life, look at your community life. We, like them, are terribly accustomed to a double life: on one hand we proclaim we are children of God, we speak of grace, of spiritual life, while we are terribly ordinary, often very dishonest and malicious in daily life or with our rivals within the Church, especially if we have a title to defend.

Paul rightly gives a short list of the works of the flesh and another of the fruits of the Spirit. He places side by side idolatry and the ambitions or divisions so common in religious and practicing groups. It is clear that for him flesh and spirit are not the same as “body” and “soul”: the pettiness and attachment to our privileges are also sins of the flesh, that is of people alien to the Spirit (see com. on 3:3 and Rom 7:16).

• 6.11 At the moment of saying good-bye, once again Paul speaks about the crisis in the community. It is not only a problem of religious practice; there are also certain persons anxious to put up a good show in life (see Phil 3:2-11).

Those who persuade you to be circumcised: they are members of the community. They want to be different from “ordinary” Christians, forming an apparently more serious group, more religious because of being circumcised. Actually, this rite would assure them a welcome to Jewish homes—a good way of making professional contacts. Already at that time the links uniting Jewish communities established in all the cities of the Roman Empire increased their possibilities. For those middle class people it was advantageous to rely on them. Paul instead chose to break up and he was to be persecuted from city to city till the moment in which his adversaries would have him condemned by imperial justice.

The world has been crucified to me. Paul has chosen a different way. He goes on his way, without a home, persecuted by some, despised by others, feared by those who cannot stand his example of complete abnegation, nor his mingling with so many people whom they consider inferior. This is to follow Christ to the cross.

GALATIANS 1

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:47:33 +0000

1 • 1 From Paul, an apostle sent not by humans nor by human mediation

but by Christ Jesus and by God, the Father, who raised him from the dead;

2 I and all the brothers and sisters who are with me greet the churches in Galatia: 3 may you receive grace and peace from God our Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

4 He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this evil world, in fulfillment of the will of God the Father:

5 Glory to him for ever and ever. Amen.

There is no other gospel

• 6 I am surprised at how quickly you have abandoned God who called you according to the grace of Christ, and have gone to another gospel. 7 Indeed, there is no other gospel, but some people who are sowing confusion among you want to turn the Gospel of Christ upside down.

8 But even if we ourselves were giving you another gospel different from the one we preached to you, or if it were an angel from heaven, I would say: let God’s curse be on him! 9As I have said I now say again: if anyone preaches the Gospel in a way other than you received it, fire that one. 10 Are we to please humans or obey God? Do you think that I try to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul teaches what he received from God

• 11 Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel we preached to you is not a human message, 12 nor did I receive it from anyone, I was not taught of it but it came to me as a revelation from Christ Jesus. 13 You have heard of my previous activity in the Jewish community; I furiously persecuted the Church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 For I was more devoted to the Jewish religion than many fellow Jews of my age, and I defended the traditions of my ancestors more fanatically.

15 But one day God called me out of his great love, he who had chosen me from my mother’s womb; and he was pleased 16 to reveal in me his Son, that I might make him known among the pagan nations. Then I did not seek human advice 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. I immediately went to Arabia, and from there I returned again to Damascus. 18 Later, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 On writing this to you, I affirm before God that I am not lying.

21 After that I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 The churches of Christ in Judea did not know me personally; 23 they had only heard of me: “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he tried to uproot.” 24 And they praised God because of me.

2 CORINTHIANS 13

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:42:45 +0000

13 1 This will be my third visit to you. Any charge must be decided upon by the declaration of two or three witnesses. 2 I have said and I say again, being still far away, just as I did on my second visit I say to you who lived in sin as well as to the rest: when I return to you, I will not have pity. 3 You want to know if Christ is speaking through me? So you will. He is not used to dealing weakly with you, but rather he acts with power. 4 If he was crucified in his weakness, now he lives by the strength of God; and so we are weak with him, but we will be well alive with him, because God acts powerfully with you.

5 Examine yourselves: are you acting according to faith? Test yourselves. Can you assert that Christ Jesus is in you? If not, you have failed the test. 6 I hope you recognize that we ourselves have not failed it.

7 We pray God that you may do no wrong, not that we wish to be acknowledged but we want you to do right, even if in this we appear to have failed. 8 For we do not have power against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We rejoice if we are weak while you are strong, for all we hope is that you become perfect. 10 This is why I am writing now, so that when I come I may not have to act strictly and make use of the authority the Lord has given me for building up and not for destroying.

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, be happy, strive to be perfect, have courage, be of one mind and live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

13 The grace of Christ Jesus the Lord, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2 CORINTHIANS 12

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:37:44 +0000

Extraordinary graces

12 • 1 It is useless to boast; but if I have to, I will go on to some visions and revelations of the Lord.

2 I know a certain Christian: fourteen years ago he was taken up to the third heaven. 3 Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. But I know that this man, whether in the body or out of the body—I do not know, God knows—4 was taken up to Paradise where he heard words that cannot be told: things which humans cannot express.

5 Of that man I can indeed boast, but of myself I will not boast except of my weaknesses. 6 If I wanted to boast, it would not be foolish of me, for I would speak the truth. 7 However, I better give up lest somebody think more of me than what is seen in me or heard from me. Lest I become proud after so many and extraordinary revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a true messenger of Satan, to slap me in the face. 8 Three times I prayed to the Lord that it leave me, 9 but he answered, “My grace is enough for you; my great strength is revealed in weakness.”

Gladly, then, will I boast of my weakness that the strength of Christ may be mine. 10 So I rejoice when I suffer infirmities, humiliations, want, persecutions: all for Christ! For when I am weak, then I am strong.

11 I have acted as a fool but you forced me. You should have been the ones commending me. Yet I do not feel outdone by those super-apostles, 12 even though I am nothing. All the signs of a true apostle are found in me: patience in all trials, signs, miracles and wonders.

13 Now, in what way were you not treated like the rest of the churches? Only in this: I was not a burden to you—forgive me for this offense!

This is my third visit to you

• 14 For the third time I plan to visit you, and I will not be a burden to you, for I am not interested in what you have but only in you. Children should not have to collect money for their parents, but the parents for their children. 15 As for me, I am ready to spend whatever I have and even my whole self for all of you. If I love you so much, am I to be loved less?

16 Well, I was not a burden to you, but was it not a trick to deceive you? Tell me: 17 Did I take money from you through any of my messengers? 18 I asked Titus to go to you and I sent another brother with him. But did Titus take money from you? Have we not both acted in the same spirit?

19 Perhaps you think that we are again apologizing; but no: we speak in Christ and before God, and I do this for you, dear friends, to build you up. 20 I fear that if I go and see you, I might not find you as I would wish, and you in turn, might not find me to your liking. I might see rivalries, envy, grudges, disputes, slanders, gossip, conceit, disorder. 21 Let it not be that in coming again to you, God humble me because of you and I have to grieve over so many of you who live in sin, on seeing that they have not yet given up an impure way of living, their wicked conduct and the vices they formerly practiced.

2 CORINTHIANS 11

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:36:59 +0000

11 1 May you bear with me in some little foolishness! But surely you will. 2 I confess that I share the jealousy of God for you, for I have promised you in marriage to Christ, the only spouse, to present you to him as a pure virgin. 3 And this is my fear: the serpent that seduced Eve with cunning could also corrupt your minds and divert you from the Christian sincerity. 4 Someone now comes and preaches another Jesus different from the one we preach, or you are offered a different spirit from the one you have received, with a different Gospel from the one you have accepted—and you agree!

5 I do not see how I am inferior to those super-apostles. 6 Does my speaking leave much to be desired? Perhaps, but not my knowledge, as I have abundantly shown to you in every way.

Paul commends the apostle Paul

• 7 Perhaps my fault was that I humbled myself in order to uplift you, or that I gave you the Gospel free of charge. 8 I called upon the services of other churches and served you with the support I received from them. 9 When I was with you, although I was in need, I did not become a burden to anyone. The friends from Macedonia gave me what I needed. I have taken care not to be a burden to you in anything and I will continue to do so. 10 By the truth of Christ within me, I will let no one in the land of Achaia stop this boasting of mine.

11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do! 12 Yet I do and I will continue to do so to silence any people anxious to appear as equal to me: this is my glory. 13 In reality, they are false apostles, deceivers disguised as apostles of Christ. 14 It is not surprising: if Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, 15 his servants can easily disguise themselves as ministers of salvation, until they receive what their deeds deserve.

16 I say again: Do not take me for a fool, but if you do take me as such, bear with me that I may sing my own praises a little. 17 I will not speak with the Lord’s authority, but as a fool, bringing my own merits to prominence. 18 As some people boast of human advantages, I will do the same. 19 Fortunately you bear rather well with fools, you who are so wise! 20 You tolerate being enslaved, and exploited, robbed, treated with contempt and slapped in the face. 21 What a shame that I acted so weakly with you!

But if others are so bold, I shall also dare, although I may speak like a fool. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I begin to talk like a madman) I am better than they.

Better than they with my numerous labors. Better than they with the time spent in prison. The beatings I received are beyond comparison. How many times have I found myself in danger of death! 24 Five times the Jews sentenced me to thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with a rod, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, and once I spent a night and a day adrift on the high seas.

26 I have been continually in hazards of traveling because of rivers, because of bandits, because of my fellow Jews, or because of the pagans; in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea; in danger from false brothers. 27 I have worked and often labored without sleep, I have been hungry and thirsty and starving, cold and without shelter.

28 Besides these and other things, there was my daily concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak that I do not feel weak as well? Whoever stumbles, am I not on hot bricks?

30 If it is necessary to boast, let me proclaim the occasions on which I was found weak. 31 The God and Father of Jesus the Lord—may he be blessed for ever!—knows that I speak the truth. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas placed the city under guard in order to arrest me, 33 and I had to be let down in a basket through a window in the wall. In that way I slipped through his hands.

2 CORINTHIANS 10

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:35:47 +0000

Paul’s defense and admonition

10 • 1 It is I, Paul, who by the humility and kindness of Christ appeal to you, the Paul “who is timid among you and bold when far away from you!”

2 Do not force me to act boldly when I come, as I am determined and will dare to act against some people who think that I act from human motives. 3 Human is our condition but not our fight.

4 Our weapons for this fight are not human but they have divine power to destroy strongholds—those arguments 5 and haughty thoughts that oppose the knowledge of God. We compel all understanding, that they obey Christ. 6 So I am prepared to punish any disobedience when you should show perfect obedience.

7 See things as they really are. If someone is convinced that he belongs to Christ, let him consider that just as he is Christ’s, so am I. 8 Although I may seem too confident in the authority that the Lord gave me for building you up and not for pulling you down, I will not be put to shame for saying this. 9 Do not think that I can only frighten you with letters. 10 “His letters are severe and strong,” some say, “but as he is, he has no presence and he is a poor speaker.” 11 To such people I say, “Be careful: what my letters say from afar, is what I will do when I come.”

12 How could I venture to equate or compare myself with some people who proclaim their own merits? Fools! They measure themselves with their own measure and compare themselves with themselves. 13 As for me, I will not boast beyond measure, for I will not go past the limits that the God of true measure has set for me: He gave the measuring stick when he made me set foot in your place.

14 It is not the same when someone goes beyond his field to where he has not been able to set foot. But I am he who first reached you with the Gospel of Christ. 15 I am not making myself important where others have worked. On the contrary, we hope that as your faith increases, so too our area of ministry among you will be enlarged without going beyond our limit. 16 So we shall bring the Gospel to places beyond yours without entering into the field of others, or boasting and making ourselves important where the work is already done. 17 Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. 18 It is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

2 CORINTHIANS 9

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:34:57 +0000

More about the collection

9 • 1 It is not necessary for me to write to you about assistance to the saints. 2 I know your readiness and I praised you before the Macedonians. I said, “In Achaia they have been ready for the collection since last year.” And your enthusiasm carried most of them along. 3 So I send you these brothers of ours. May all my praise of you not fall flat in this case! May you be ready, as I said. 4 If some Macedonians come with me, let them not find you unprepared. What a shame for me—and perhaps for you—after so much confidence!

5 So I thought it necessary to ask our brothers to go ahead of us and see you to organize this blessed work you have promised. It shall come from your generosity and not be an imposed task.

6 Remember: the one who sows meagerly will reap meagerly, and there shall be generous harvests for the one who sows generously. 7 Each of you should give as you decided personally, and not reluctantly as if obliged. God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to fill you with every good thing, so that you have enough of everything at all times, and may give abundantly for any good work.

9 Scripture says: He distributed, he gave to the poor, his good works last forever. 10 God who provides the sower with seed will also provide him with the bread he eats. He will multiply the seed for you and also increase the interests of your good works. 11 Become rich in every way, and give abundantly. What you give will become, through us, a thanksgiving to God.

12 For this sacred relief, after providing the saints with what they need, will result in much thanksgiving to God. 13 This will be a test for them; they will give thanks because you obey the requirements of Christ’s Gospel and share generously with them and with all. 14 They shall pray to God for you and feel affection for you because the grace of God overflows in you.

15 Yes, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

2 CORINTHIANS 8

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:33:50 +0000

The collection for those in Jerusalem

8 • 1 Now I want you to know about a gift of divine grace among the Churches of Macedonia. 2 While they were so afflicted and persecuted, their joy overflowed and their extreme poverty turned into a wealth of generosity. 3-4 According to their means—even beyond their means—they wanted to share in helping the saints.

They asked us for this favor spontaneously and with much insistence 5 and, far beyond anything we expected, they put themselves at the disposal of the Lord and of us by the will of God. 6 Accordingly, I urged Titus to complete among you this work of grace since he began it with you. 7 You excel in everything: in the gifts of faith, speech and knowledge; you feel concern for every cause and, besides, you are first in my heart. Excel also in this generous service.

8 This is not a command; I make known to you the determination of others to check the sincerity of your fraternal concern. 9 You know well the generosity of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Although he was rich, he made himself poor to make you rich through his poverty.

10 I only make a suggestion, because you were the first not only in cooperating, but in beginning this project a year ago. 11 So complete this work and, according to your means, carry out what you decided with much enthusiasm. 12 When there is a good disposition, everything you give is welcomed and no one longs for what you do not have. 13 I do not mean that others should be at ease and you burdened. Strive for equality; 14 at present give from your abundance what they are short of, and in some way they also will give from their abundance what you lack. Then you will be equal 15 and what Scripture says shall come true: To the one who had much, nothing was in excess; to the one who had little, nothing was lacking.

16 Blessed be God who inspires Titus with such care for you! 17 He not only listened to my appeal but he wanted to go and see you on his own initiative. 18 I am sending with him the brother who has gained the esteem of the churches in the work of the Gospel; 19 moreover they appointed him to travel with us in this blessed work we are carrying on for the glory of the Lord but also because of our personal enthusiasm.

20 We decided on this so that no one could suspect us with regard to this generous fund that we are administering. 21 Let us see to it that all may appear clean not only before God but also before people. 22 We also send with them another brother who on several occasions has shown us his zeal and, now, is more enthusiastic because of his confidence in you.

23 You then have Titus, our companion and minister, to serve you and, with him, you have our brothers, representatives of the churches and a glory to Christ. 24 Show them how you love, and prove before the churches all the good things I said to them about you.

2 CORINTHIANS 7

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:32:46 +0000

7 1 Since we have such promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and spirit, and complete the work of sanctification in the fear of God.

Welcome us in your hearts

• 2 Welcome us in your hearts. We have injured no one, we have harmed no one, we have cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you: I have just said that you are in our heart so that together we live, together we die. 4 I have great confidence in you and I am indeed proud of you. I feel very much encouraged and my joy overflows in spite of all this bitterness.

5 Know that when I came to Macedonia, I had no rest at all but I was afflicted with all kinds of difficulties: conflict outside and fear within. 6 But God who encourages the humble gave me comfort with the arrival of Titus, 7 not only because of his arrival, but also because you had received him very well. He told me about your deep affection for me; you were affected by what happened, you worried about me, and this made me rejoice all the more.

8 If my letter caused you pain, I do not regret it. Perhaps I did regret it, for I saw that the letter caused you sadness for a moment but now I rejoice, 9 not because of your sadness, but because this sadness brought you to repentance. This was a sadness from God, so that no evil came to you because of me. 10 Sadness from God brings firm repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death. 11 See what this sadness from God has produced in you: What concern for me! What apologies! What indignation and fear! What a longing to see me, to make amends and do me justice!

You have fully proved that you were innocent in this matter. 12 In reality, I wrote to you not on account of the offender or of the offended, but that you may be conscious of the concern you have for me before God. 13 I was encouraged by this.

In addition to this consolation of mine, I rejoice especially to see Titus very pleased with the way you all reassured him. 14 I had no cause to regret my praise of you to him. You know that I am always sincere with you; likewise my praise of you to Titus has been justified. 15 He now feels much more affection for you as he remembers the obedience of all and the respect and humility with which you received him. 16 Really I rejoice for I can be truly proud of you.

2 CORINTHIANS 6

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:31:48 +0000

6 1 Being God’s helpers we beg you: let it not be in vain that you received this grace of God. 2 Scripture says: At the favorable time I listened to you, on the day of salvation I helped you. This is the favorable time, this is the day of salvation.

The trials of an apostle

• 3 We are concerned not to give anyone an occasion to stumble or criticize our mission. 4 Instead we prove we are true ministers of God in every way by our endurance in so many trials, in hardships, afflictions, 5 floggings, imprisonment, riots, fatigue, sleepless nights and days of hunger.

6 People can notice in our upright life, knowledge, patience and kindness, action of the Holy Spirit, sincere love, 7 words of truth and power of God. So we fight with the weapons of justice, to attack as well as to defend.

8 Sometimes we are honored, at other times insulted; we receive criticism as well as praise. We are regarded as liars although we speak the truth; 9 as unknown though we are well known; as dead and yet we live. Punishments come upon us but we have not, as yet, been put to death. 10 We appear to be afflicted, yet always joyful; we seem to be poor, but we enrich many; we have nothing, but we possess everything!

11 Corinthians! I have spoken to you frankly and I have uncovered my inner thought. 12 My heart is wide open to you, but you feel uneasy because of your closed heart: 13 repay us with the same measure—I speak to you as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

Have nothing to do with evil

• 14 Do not make unsuitable covenants with those who do not believe: can justice walk with wickedness? Or can light coexist with darkness, 15 and can there be harmony between Christ and Satan? What union can there be between one who believes and one who does not believe? 16 God’s temple must have no room for idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As Scripture says; I will dwell and live in their midst, I will be their God and they shall be my people.

17 Therefore: Come out from their midst and separate from them, says the Lord. Do not touch anything unclean 18 and I will be gracious to you. I will be a father to you, that you may become my sons and daughters, says the all-powerful God.

2 CORINTHIANS 5

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:30:39 +0000

5 1 We know that when our earthly dwelling, or rather our tent, is destroyed, we may count on a building from God, a heavenly dwelling not built by human hands, that lasts forever. 2 Therefore we long and groan: Why may we not put on this heavenly dwelling over that which we have? 3 (Indeed, are we sure that we shall still be wearing our earthly dwelling and not be unclothed?)

4 As long as we are in the field-tent, we indeed moan our unbearable fate for we do not want this clothing to be removed from us; we would rather put the other over it, that the mortal body may be absorbed by true life. 5 This is God’s purpose for us, and he has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what we are to receive.

6 So we feel confident always. We know that while living in the body, we are exiled from the Lord, 7 living by faith, without seeing; 8 but we dare to think that we would rather be away from the body to go and live with the Lord. 9 So, whether we have to keep this house or lose it, we only wish to please the Lord. 10 Anyway we all have to appear before the tribunal of Christ for each one to receive what he deserves for his good or evil deeds in the present life.

We proclaim the message of reconciliation

• 11 So we know the fear of the Lord and we try to convince people while we live openly before God. And I trust that you know in your conscience what we truly are. 12 Once more, we do not try to win your esteem; we want to give you a reason to feel proud of us, that you may respond to those who heed appearances and not the reality. 13 Now, if I have spoken foolishly, let God alone hear; if what I have said makes sense, take it for yourselves.

14 Indeed the love of Christ holds us and we realize that if he died for all, all have died. 15 He died for all so that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them. 16 And so from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard him in another way.

17 For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him the old things have passed away; a new world has come. 18 All this is the work of God who in Christ reconciled us to himself, and who entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 Because in Christ God reconciled the world with himself, no longer taking into account their trespasses and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

20 So we present ourselves as ambassadors in the name of Christ, as if God himself makes an appeal to you through us. Let God reconcile you; this we ask you in the name of Christ. 21He had no sin, but God made him bear our sin, so that in him we might share the holiness of God.

2 CORINTHIANS 4

Rev. Fr. Jessie Somosierra, Jr. — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:29:39 +0000

We carry this treasure in vessels of clay

4 • 1 Since this is our ministry mercifully given to us, we do not weaken. 2 We refuse to stay with half-truths through fear; we do not behave with cunning or falsify the message of God but, manifesting the truth, we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

3 In fact if the Gospel we proclaim remains obscure, it is obscure only for those who go to their own destruction. 4 The god of this world has blinded the minds of these unbelievers lest they see the radiance of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is God’s image. 5 It is not ourselves we preach, but Christ Jesus as Lord; and for Jesus’ sake we are your servants. 6 God who said, Let the light shine out of darkness, has also made the light shine in our hearts to radiate and to make known the Glory of God, as it shines in the face of Christ.

7 However, we carry this treasure in vessels of clay, so that this all-surpassing power may not be seen as ours but as God’s. 8 Trials of every sort come to us, but we are not discouraged. 9 We are left without answer, but do not despair; persecuted but not abandoned, knocked down but not crushed. 10 At any moment we carry in our person the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in us. 11 For we, the living, are given up continually to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may appear in our mortal existence. 12 And as death is at work in us, life comes to you.

13 We have received the same spirit of faith referred to in Scripture that says: I believed and so I spoke. We also believe and so we speak. 14 We know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and bring us, with you, into his presence. 15 Finally, everything is for your good, so that grace will come more abundantly upon you and great will be the thanksgiving for the glory of God.

We long for our heavenly dwelling

• 16 Therefore we are not discouraged. On the contrary, while our outer being wastes away, the inner self is renewed from day to day. 17 The slight affliction that quickly passes away prepares us for an eternal wealth of glory so great and beyond all comparison. 18 So we no longer pay attention to the things that are seen, but to those that are unseen, for the things that we see last for a moment, but that which cannot be seen is eternal.