Luke 10:21-24
21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “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; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. 22 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Cited in the Catechism: In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium." He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism paragraphs 1083 and 2603.
Commentary
10:21 This passage of the Gospel is usually called our Lord’s “hymn of joy” and is also to be found in St Matthew (11:25–27). It is one of those moments when Jesus rejoices to see humble people understanding and accepting the word of God.
Our Lord also reveals one of the effects of humility—spiritual childhood. For example, in another passage he says: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). But spiritual childhood does not involve weakness, softness or ignorance: “I have often meditated on this life of spiritual childhood, which is not incompatible with fortitude, because it demands a strong will, proven maturity, an open and firm character […]. To become children we must renounce our pride and self-sufficiency, recognizing that we can do nothing by ourselves. We must realize that we need grace, and the help of God our Father to find our way and keep to it. To be little, you have to abandon yourself as children do, believe as children believe, beg as children beg” (St Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 10 and 143).
10:22. “This statement is a wonderful help to our faith,” St Ambrose comments, “because when you read ‘all’ you realize that Christ is all-powerful, that he is not inferior to the Father, or less perfect than he; when you read ‘have been delivered to me’, you confess that Christ is the Son, to whom everything belongs by right of being one in substance [with the Father] and not by grace of gift” (Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc.).
Here we see Christ as almighty Lord and God, consubstantial with the Father, and the only one capable of revealing who the Father is. At the same time, we can recognize the divine nature of Jesus only if the Father gives us the grace of faith—as he did to St Peter (cf. Mt 16:17).
10:23–24. Obviously, seeing Jesus with one’s own eyes was a wonderful thing for people who believed in him. However, our Lord will say to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20:29). St Peter, for his part, tells us: “Without having seen him you love him; though you do not see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:8–9).
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.
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"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
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