DECEMBER 9
1 Cor 1:27 489; 1 Cor 1:30 2813
Ps 131:2 239; Ps 131:2-3 370
Mt 11:25-27 2603, 2779; Mt 11:25-26 2701; Mt 11:25 153, 544, 2785; Mt 11:27 151, 240, 443, 473; Mt 11:28 1658; Mt 11:29-30 1615; Mt 11:29 459
From the Common of Holy Men and Women
Or (Suggested by USCCB 2021)
Reading 1: 1 Cor 1:26-31
Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.
Not many of you were wise by human standards,
not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth.
Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.
It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God,
as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
so that, as it is written,
Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 131:1bcde, 2, 3
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
Gospel: Mt 11:25-30
At that time Jesus responded:
"I give praise to you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
1 Corinthians 1:26 – 31
Take yourselves for instance, brothers, at the time when you were called: how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people, or came from noble families? No, it was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame what is strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning; those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen – those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything. The human race has nothing to boast about to God, but you, God has made members of Christ Jesus and by God’s doing he has become our wisdom, and our virtue, and our holiness, and our freedom. As scripture says: if anyone wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 130(131):1-3
In you O Lord, I have found my peace
O Lord, my heart is
not proud
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after
things too great
nor marvels beyond me.
In you O Lord, I have found my peace
Truly I have set my
soul
in Silence and peace.
A weaned child on its
mother's breast,
even so my soul.
In you O Lord, I have found my peace
O Israel, Hope in the
Lord
both now and forever.
In you O Lord, I have
found my peace
Gospel Matthew 11:25 – 30
At that time Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
‘Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
From: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
The Wisdom of the Cross (Continuation)
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[26] For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; [27] but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. [28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [30] He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; [31] therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord."
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Commentary:
26-29. As in the case of the Apostles--"You did not choose me, but I chose you'. (Jn 15:16)--it is the Lord who chooses, who gives each Christian his vocation. St Paul emphasizes that the initiative lies with God by saying three times that it was God who chose those Corinthians to be Christians, and he did not base his choice on human criteria. Human wisdom, power, nobility, these were not what brought them to the faith--nor the inspirations which God later gives. "God is no respecter of persons (cf. 2 Chron 19:7; Rom 2:1; Eph 6:9; CoI 3:25; etc.)", St. J. Escriva reminds us. "When he invites a soul to live a life fully in accordance with the faith, he does not set store by merits of fortune, nobility, blood or learning. God's call precedes all merits [...]. Vocation comes first. God loves us before we even know how to go toward him, and he places in us the love with which we can respond to his call" ("Christ Is Passing By", 33).
Thus, God chooses whomever he wants to, and these first Christians -- uneducated, unimportant, even despised people, in the world's eyes--will be what he uses to spread his Church and convert the wise, the strong and the "important": this disproportion between resources and results will make it quite clear that God is responsible for the increase.
However, this does not mean that none of the first Christians was educated or influential, humanly speaking. The Acts of the Apostles, for example, tell us about early converts who were out of the ordinary--a minister of the court of the Kandake of Ethiopia; a centurion, Cornelius; Apollos; Dionysius the Areopagite; etc. "It would appear that worldly excellence is not godly unless God uses it for his honor. And therefore, although at the beginning they were indeed few, later God chose many humanly outstanding people for the ministry of preaching. Hence the gloss which says, 'If the fisherman had not faithfully led the way, the orator would not have humbly followed'" (St Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.").
27. St Paul's words remind us that supernatural resources are the thing an apostle must rely on. It is true that human resources are necessary, and God counts on them (cf. 1 Cor 3:5-10); but the task God has commended to Christians exceeds their abilities and can be carried out only with his help. The Second Vatican Council reminded priests of this verse when stressing the need for humility; and what it says can be useful to all Christians: "The divine task for the fulfillment of which they have been set apart by the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 13:2) transcends all human strength and human wisdom; for 'God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong' (1 Cor 1:27). Therefore the true minister of Christ is conscious of his own weakness and labors in humility. He tries to discover what is well-pleasing to God (cf. Eph 5:10) and, bound as it were in the Spirit (cf. Acts 20:22), he is guided in all things by the will of him who wishes all men to be saved. He is able to discover and carry out that will in the course of his daily routine by humbly placing himself at the service of all those who are entrusted to his care by God in the office that has been committed to him and the variety of events that make up his life" ("Presbyterorum Ordinis", 15).
30-31. God's call makes a person a member of Christ Jesus, through Baptism; and if a Christian is docile to grace he or she will gradually become so like Christ as to be able to say with St Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). This "being in Christ Jesus" enables a person to share in the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption which Jesus is for the Christian.
Jesus Christ indeed is the "wisdom" of God (cf. Col 1:15f; Heb 1:2f), and knowing him is true wisdom, the highest form of wisdom. He is for us our "righteousness", because through the merits obtained by his incarnation, death and resurrection he has made us truly righteous (= just, holy) in God's sight He is also the source of all holiness, which consists in fact in identification with Christ. Through him, who has become "redemption" for us, we have been redeemed from the slavery of sin. "How well the Apostle orders his ideas: Good has made us wise by rescuing us from error; and then he has made us just and holy by giving us his spirit" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on 1 Cor, 5, ad loc.").
In view of the complete gratuitousness of God's choice (vv. 25-28) and the immense benefits it brings with it, the conclusion is obvious: "'Deo omni, gloria. All glory to God.' It is an emphatic conclusion of our nothingness. He, Jesus, is everything. We, without him, are worth nothing: nothing. Our vainglory would be just that: vain glory; it would be sacrilegious robbery. There should be no room for that 'I' anywhere" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 780).
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From: Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus Thanks His
Father
------------------------------------
[25] At that time Jesus declared, "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; [26] yea, Father, for such was Thy gracious will. [27] All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. [28] Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
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Commentary:
25-26. The wise and understanding of this world, that is, those who rely on their own judgment, cannot accept the revelation which Christ has brought us. Supernatural outlook is always connected with humility. A humble person, who gives himself little importance, sees; a person who is full of self-esteem fails to perceive supernatural things.
27. Here Jesus formally reveals His divinity. Our knowledge of a person shows our intimacy with Him, according to the principle given by St. Paul: "For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him?" (1 Corinthians 2:11). The Son knows the Father by the same knowledge as that by which the Father knows the Son. This identity of knowledge implies oneness of nature; that is to say, Jesus is God just as the Father is God.
28-30. Our Lord calls everyone to come to Him. We all find things difficult in one way or another. The history of souls bears out the truth of these words of Jesus. Only the Gospel can fully satisfy the thirst for truth and justice which sincere people feel. Only our Lord, our Master--and those to whom He passes on His power -- can soothe the sinner by telling him, "Your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9:2). In this connection Pope Paul VI teaches: "Jesus says now and always, 'Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' His attitude towards us is one of invitation, knowledge and compassion; indeed, it is one of offering, promise, friendship, goodness, remedy of our ailments; He is our comforter; indeed, our nourishment, our bread, giving us energy and life" ("Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1974).
"Come to Me": the Master is addressing the crowds who are following Him, "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). The Pharisees weighed them down with an endless series of petty regulations (cf. Acts 15: 10), yet they brought no peace to their souls. Jesus tells these people, and us, about the kind of burden He imposes: "Any other burden oppresses and crushes you, but Christ's actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs down, but Christ's gives you wings. If you take a bird's wings away, you might seem to be taking weight off it, but the more weight you take off, the more you tie it down to the earth. There it is on the ground, and you wanted to relieve it of a weight; give it back the weight of its wings and you will see how it flies" (St. Augustine, "Sermon" 126).
"All you who go about tormented, afflicted and burdened with the burden of your cares and desires, go forth from them, come to Me and I will refresh you and you shall find for your souls the rest which your desires take from you" (St. John of the Cross, "Ascent of Mount Carmel", Book 1, Chapter 7, 4).
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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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