CCC Cross Reference:
Gal 3:2 476
Lk 1:73 706
Lk 11:5-13 2613; Lk 11:9 2761; Lk 11:13 443, 728, 2623, 2671
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Reading 1
Gal 3:1-5
O stupid Galatians!
Who has bewitched you,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
I want to learn only this from you:
did you receive the Spirit from works of the law,
or from faith in what you heard?
Are you so stupid?
After beginning with the Spirit,
are you now ending with the flesh?
Did you experience so many things in vain?–
if indeed it was in vain.
Does, then, the one who supplies the Spirit to you
and works mighty deeds among you
do so from works of the law
or from faith in what you heard?
Responsorial Psalm
Luke 1:69-70, 71-72, 73-75
R. (68) Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; He has come to his people.
Gospel
Lk 11:5-13
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Galatians 3:1 – 5
Are you people in Galatia mad? Has someone put a spell on you, in spite of the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Let me ask you one question: was it because you practiced the Law that you received the Spirit, or because you believed what was preached to you? Are you foolish enough to end in outward observances what you began in the Spirit? Have all the favors you received been wasted? And if this were so, they would most certainly have been wasted. Does God give you the Spirit so freely and work miracles among you because you practice Law, or because you believed what was preached to you?
Canticle: Luke 1:69-75
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
in the house of David his servant,
as he promised by the lips of holy men,
those who were his prophets from of old.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
A saviour who would free us from our foes,
from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled
and his holy covenant remembered.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He swore to Abraham our father
to grant us that free from fear,
and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.
Gospel Luke 11:5 – 13
Jesus also said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you.” I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.
‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
Readings and Commmentary from Navarre
Thursday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Galatians 3:1-5
Justification By Faith
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[1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? [4] Did you experience so many things in vain? -- if it really is in vain. [5] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?
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Commentary:
1-14. It is his love for the Galatians, rather than indignation at their behavior, that causes the Apostle to call them "foolish". His love causes him suffering because they have forgotten that only Jesus, and not the Law, brings salvation. The Galatians should know very well that they received justification without even having heard mention of the Law, for the Holy Spirit came upon them prior to the arrival of the people from Jerusalem (vv. 1-5). All they have to do is remember the charisms which they received -- the "so many things", the "miracles", which are manifestations of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12-14).
Besides, there is the example of Abraham (vv. 6-9; cf. Rom 4). The Lord promised him that his descendants would be blessed; he established a covenant with him and justified him not by the works of the Law, which had not yet been promulgated, but through his faith. In the same way, all who have believed and who will in the future believe in God as Abraham did will be his true descendants and will also receive God's blessing.
Finally, the Mosaic Law, far from bringing salvation, is rather a cause of spiritual death, insofar as every precept involves a penalty if it is not obeyed (vv. 10-14; cf. Rom 7:7-12). Our Lord freed us from the curse of the Law by voluntarily taking on himself the punishment merited by man's sin (cf. Is 53:4; Mt 8:17; Rom 3:21-26; 5:6-10). By reverting and submitting to the Law they would in effect be saying that our Redeemer's sacrifice was unnecessary and ineffective.
1. St Paul boasted that he preached Christ crucified, even though he fully realized that it was a stumbling-block to Jews and folly to pagans (cf. 1 Cor 1:23). The mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ was in fact the very essence of the Apostles' teaching (cf. Acts 2:22-24; 3:13-15; etc.), for it was these mysteries that contained all hope of eternal life and salvation. That is why Paul adds that, for believers, Christ crucified, far from being folly, is the power of God and the wisdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 1:24).
Paul had probably described our Lord's Sacrifice with such force and effect that it had been deeply engraved in their memory -- and now these Judaizers, these deceivers, were hypnotizing the naive Galatians and causing them to lose sight of Christ: they had switched their attention from Christ on the Cross to the actions of the interlopers.
St Paul's warning is an invitation to fix one's gaze once more on that sign which, as it were, sums up all Christianity -- the image of Christ on the Cross, which ever since apostolic times presides over altars and altarpieces, and places of work and leisure.
2-5. St Paul reminds the Galatians that in Baptism they received the Holy Spirit and his gifts. Since their Baptism, and not prior to it, they had experienced the action of the Spirit who, although he is in all ages a source of joy in the Church, was even more evident in the apostolic age in which the Galatians were living. So, how did this life of the Spirit reach the Galatians -- through faith in Christ and through Baptism, or through the works of the Law? The Apostle poses the question without providing an answer, surely because it is obvious that it came through Christ. The Mosaic Law played no part at all. How, then, can they be so foolish as to change the Gospel which Paul had preached to them?
From: Luke 11:5-13
Effective Prayer
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[5] And He (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; [6] for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; [7] and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything'? [8] I tell you, though he will not get up and give \him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs. [9] And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [10] For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks find, and to him who knocks it will be opened. [11] What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; [12] or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
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Commentary:
5-10. One of the essential features of prayer is trusting perseverance. By this simple example and others like it (cf. Luke 18:1-7) our Lord encourages us not to desist in asking God to hear us. "Persevere in prayer. Persevere even when your efforts seem barren. Prayer is always fruitful" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 101).
9-10. Do you see the effectiveness of prayer when it is done properly? Are you not convinced like me that, if we do not obtain what we ask God for, it is because we are not praying with faith, with a heart pure enough, with enough confidence, or that we are not persevering in prayer the way we should? God has never refused nor will ever refuse anything to those who ask for His graces in the way they should. Prayer is the great recourse available to us to get out of sin, to persevere in grace, to move God's heart and to draw upon us all kinds of blessing from Heaven, whether for the soul or to meet our temporal needs" (St. John Mary Vianney, "Selected Sermons", Fifth Sunday after Easter).
11-13. Our Lord uses the example of human parenthood as a comparison to stress again the wonderful fact that God is our Father, for God's fatherhood is the source of parenthood in Heaven and on earth (cf. Ephesians 3:15). "The God of our faith is not a distant Being who contemplates indifferently the fate of men -- their desires, their struggles, their sufferings. He is a Father who loves His children so much that He sends the Word, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, so that by taking on the nature of man He may die to redeem us. He is the loving Father who now leads us gently to Himself, through the action of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", p. 84).
13. The Holy Spirit is God's best gift to us, the great promise Christ gives His disciples (cf. John 5:26), the divine fire which descends on the Apostles at Pentecost, filling them with fortitude and freedom to proclaim Christ's message (Acts 2). "The profound reality which we see in the texts of Holy Scripture is not a remembrance from the past, from some golden age of the Church which has since been buried in history. Despite the weaknesses and the sins of every one of us, it is the reality of today's Church and the Church in all times. 'I will pray to the Father,' our Lord told His disciples, 'and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever.' Jesus has kept His promise. He has risen from the dead and, in union with the eternal Father, He sends us the Holy Spirit to sanctify us and to give us life" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 12).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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