Navarre Bible Commentary:Monday, 2nd Week of Easter

Nicodemus by John LaFarge

John 3:1–8

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”

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, in fifteen (15) paragraphs.

Commentary

3:1–2. Throughout this intimate dialogue, Nicodemus behaves with great refinement: he addresses Jesus with respect and calls him Rabbi, Master. He had probably been impressed by Christ’s miracles and preaching and wanted to know more. The way he reacts to our Lord’s teaching is not as yet very supernatural, but he is noble and upright. His visiting Jesus by night, for fear of the Jews (cf. Jn 19:39), is very understandable, given his position as a member of the Sanhedrin: but he takes the risk and goes to see Jesus.

When the Pharisees tried to arrest Jesus (Jn 7:32), failing to do so because he had such support among the people, Nicodemus energetically opposed the injustice of condemning a man without giving him a hearing; he also showed no fear, at the most difficult time of all, by honouring the dead body of the Lord (Jn 19:40).

3:3–8. Nicodemus’ first question shows that he still has doubts about Jesus (Is he a prophet? Is he the Messiah?); and our Lord replies to him in a completely unexpected way: Nicodemus presumed he would say something about his mission and, instead, he reveals to him an astonishing truth: one must be born again, in a spiritual birth, by water and the spirit; a whole new world opens up before Nicodemus.

Our Lord’s words also paint a limitless horizon for the spiritual advancement of any Christian who willingly lets himself or herself be led by divine grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are infused at Baptism and enhanced by the sacraments. As well as opening his soul to God, the Christian also needs to keep at bay his selfish appetites and the inclinations of pride, if he is to understand what God is teaching him in his soul: “Therefore must the soul be stripped of all things created, and of its own actions and abilities — namely, of its understanding, perception and feelings—so that, when all that is unlike God and unconformed to him is cast out, the soul may receive the likeness of God; and nothing will then remain in it that is not the will of God and it will thus be transformed in God. Wherefore, although it is true that, as we have said, God is ever in the soul, giving it, and through his presence conserving within it, its natural being, yet he does not always communicate supernatural being to it. For this is communicated only by love and grace, which not all souls possess; and all those that possess it have it not in the same degree; for some have attained more degrees of love and others fewer. Wherefore God communicates himself most to that soul that has progressed farthest in love; namely, that has its will in closest conformity with the will of God. And the soul that has attained complete conformity and likeness of will is totally united and transformed in God supernaturally” (St John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, book 2, chap. 5).

Jesus speaks very forcefully about man’s new condition: it is no longer a question of being born of the flesh, of the line of Abraham (cf. Jn 1:13), but of being reborn through the action of the Holy Spirit, by means of water. This is our Lord’s first reference to Christian Baptism, confirming John the Baptist’s prophecy (cf. Mt 3:11; Jn 1:33) that he had come to institute a baptism with the Holy Spirit.

“Nicodemus had not yet savoured this spirit and this life. […] He knew but one birth, which is from Adam and Eve; that which is from God and the Church, he did not yet know; he knew only the paternity which engenders to death; he did not yet know the paternity which engenders to life. […] Whereas there are two births, he knew only of one. One is of earth, the other of heaven; one of the flesh, the other of the Spirit; one of mortality, the other of eternity; one of male and female, the other of God and the Church. But the two are each unique; neither one nor the other can be repeated” (St Augustine, In Ioann. Evang., 11, 6).

Our Lord speaks of the wonderful effects the Holy Spirit produces in the soul of the baptized. Just as with the wind—when it blows we realize its presence, we hear it whistling, but we do not know where it came from, or where it will end up—so with the Holy Spirit, the divine “breath” (pneuma) given us in Baptism: we do not know how he comes to penetrate our heart but he makes his presence felt by the change in the conduct of whoever receives him.

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.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

Navarre Bible Commentary:Wednesday, 1st Week in Advent

Christ Feeding the Multitude, Coptic Icon

Matthew 15:29-37

29 And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain, and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the throng wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” 33 And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” 34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” 35 And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

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 579, 1329 and 1335.

Commentary

Curing of many sick people

15:29–31. Here St Matthew summarizes Jesus’ activity in this border area where Jews and pagans were living side by side. As usual he teaches and heals the sick; the Gospel account clearly echoes the prophecy of Isaiah which Christ himself used to prove that he was the Messiah (Lk 7:22): “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped …” (Is 35:5). “They glorified the God of Israel”: this clearly refers to the Gentiles, who thought that God could give the power to work miracles to Jews only. Once again the Gentiles are seen to have more faith than the Jews.

Second miracle of the loaves and fish

15:32. The Gospels speak of our Lord’s mercy and compassion towards people’s needs: here he is concerned about the crowds who are following him and who have no food. He always has a word of consolation, encouragement and forgiveness: he is never indifferent. However, what hurts him most are sinners who go through life without experiencing light and truth: he waits for them in the sacraments of Baptism and Penance.

15:33–38. As in the case of the first multiplication (14:13–20), the apostles provide our Lord with the loaves and the fish. It was all they had. He also avails of the apostles to distribute the food—the result of the miracle—to the people. In distributing the graces of salvation God chooses to rely on the faithfulness and generosity of men. “Many great things depend—don’t forget it—on whether you and I live our lives as God wants” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 755).

It is interesting to note that in both miracles of multiplication of loaves and fish Jesus provides food in abundance but does not allow anything to go to waste. All Jesus’ miracles, in addition to being concrete historical events, are also symbols of supernatural realities. Here abundance of material food also signifies abundance of divine gifts on the level of grace and glory: it refers to spiritual resources and eternal rewards; God gives people more graces than are strictly necessary. This is borne out by Christian experience throughout history. St Paul tells us that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20); he speaks of “the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us” (Eph 1:8) and tells his disciple Timothy that “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 1:14).

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.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

Navarre Bible Commentary:Friday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Friday, November 8, 2013

31st  Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 16:1-8

The Unjust Steward

1 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you?  Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3 And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

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 paragraph 952.

Commentary

16:1–8. The unfaithful steward manages to avoid falling on hard times. Of course, our Lord presumes that we realize the immorality of the man’s behaviour. What he emphasizes and praises, however, is his shrewdness and effort: he tries to derive maximum material advantage from his former position as steward. In saving our soul and spreading the Kingdom of God, our Lord wants us to apply at least the same ingenuity and effort as people put into their worldly affairs or their attempts to attain some human ideal. The fact that we can count on God’s grace does not in any way exempt us from the need to employ all available legitimate human resources even if that means strenuous effort and heroic sacrifice. “What zeal people put into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honours, striving for riches, bent on sensuality! Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle-aged and young and even children: all of them alike. When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will have a living and working faith. And there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic works” (St J. Escrivá, The Way, 317).

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.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome