IV. FOR VARIOUS NEEDS
28. For the Promotion of Charity or to Foster Harmony or for Family and Friends
953 Reading from the New Testament
First Option
Brothers and sisters:
By the grace given to me I tell everyone among you
not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think,
but to think soberly,
each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned.
For as in one body we have many parts,
and all the parts do not have the same function,
so we, though many, are one Body in Christ
and individually parts of one another.
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,
let us exercise them:
if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;
if ministry, in ministering;
if one is a teacher, in teaching;
if one exhorts, in exhortation;
if one contributes, in generosity;
if one is over others, with diligence;
if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Let love be sincere;
hate what is evil,
hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in showing honor.
Do not grow slack in zeal,
be fervent in spirit,
serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope,
endure in affliction,
persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,
exercise hospitality.
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Commentary on Rom 12:3-13
St. Paul speaks to a community that is one in faith in Christ. He tells the community that in their union the gifts of each must serve the needs of all and these gifts need to be exercised. The Evangelist uses the analogy of the “Body” (the Body of Christ) with each part of the body serving an important purpose though each different from the others. In the second part of the selection the Evangelist gives a litany of exhortations to live the love of Christ, following his command to love one another sincerely and to forgive those who persecute them.
CCC: Rom 12-15 1454, 1971; Rom 12:4 1142; Rom 12:5 1372; Rom 12:5 1372; Rom 12:6-8 2004; Rom 12:6 114; Rom 12:8 2039; Rom 12:9-13 1971; Rom 12:11 2039; Rom 12:12 1820
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Second Option
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice
over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 12:31-13:13
St. Paul shifts his focus from the diversity of the different functions within the Body of Christ (which is the Church), to the gifts common to those enlightened by Christ. First among these gifts is love which informs all reason, directing the Christian to the love of Christ.
“In speaking of love, Paul is led by spontaneous association to mention faith and hope as well. They are already a well-known triad (cf 1 Thessalonians 1:3), three interrelated features of Christian life, more fundamental than any particular charism. The greatest . . . is love: love is operative even within the other members of the triad, so that it has a certain primacy among them. Or, if the perspective is temporal, love will remain (cf "never fails,") even when faith has yielded to sight and hope to possession.”[1]
CCC: 1 Cor 12 1988, 2003; 1 Cor 13 735, 800; 1 Cor 13:1-4 1826; 1 Cor 13:4-7 1825; 1 Cor 13:5 953; 1 Cor 13:8 773; 1 Cor 13:12 163, 164, 314, 1023, 1720, 2519; 1 Cor 13:13 1813, 1826, 1841
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Third Option
Beloved:
We know that we have passed from death to life
because we love our brothers.
Whoever does not love remains in death.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that anyone who is a murderer
does not have eternal life remaining in him.
The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If someone who has worldly means
sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion,
how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love not In word or speech
but in deed and truth.
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Commentary on 1 Jn 3:14-18
St. John continues his narrative on righteousness and love in this passage. Note, he has not really focused on what he considers to be the central teaching of Christ – love one another. In this particular section he begins with the comparison from scripture of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16). He brings that rationale as to why the world, in his eyes intrinsically evil, hates the Christian community, who are good because they love each other.
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954 Responsorial Psalm
1.
R. (see 9b) The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Will you not instead give us life;
and shall not your people rejoice in you?
Show us, O LORD, your kindness,
and grant us your salvation.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD-for he proclaims peace.
To his people, and to his faithful ones,
and to those who put in him their hope.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. The Lord speaks of peace to his people.
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Commentary on Ps 85:7-8, 9, 11-12
Psalm 85 is a national lament. The song asks for forgiveness and mercy from God who alone grants salvation. These strophes reflect the joy of salvation at the restoration of the land following the destruction of the temple and the Diaspora. This passage expresses the hope that God will be active in His support of the faithful.
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2.
R. (3c) We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
For he is good,
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
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Commentary on Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5
Psalm 100 is a communal song of thanksgiving in which the psalmist invites the people to come to God with praise and thanksgiving for the wondrous things he has done.. In this selection the psalmist gives thanks for God’s favor and his unending support in all good things. It affirms God’s saving grace given to his sons and daughters through all generations. The song recalls God the creator who is love and fidelity knows no bounds.
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956 Gospel
First Option
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”
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Commentary on Mt 18:15-20
St. Matthew relates the Lord's instructions to his disciples (and to the Christian community at large). “Passing from the duty of Christian disciples toward those who have strayed from their number, the discourse now turns to how they are to deal with one who sins and yet remains within the community. First there is to be private correction; if this is unsuccessful, further correction before two or three witnesses; if this fails, the matter is to be brought before the assembled community (the church), and if the sinner refuses to attend to the correction of the church, he is to be expelled. The church's judgment will be ratified in heaven, i.e., by God. The section ends with a saying about the favorable response of God to prayer, even to that of a very small number, for Jesus is in the midst of any gathering of his disciples, however small.”[2]
“In this passage, peace and unity are assumed by Jesus to be the natural state of things in the community gathered in memory of him and in his Name. When this peace is disturbed the one intolerable attitude is indifference, since those who bear the name of Christ must seek reconciliation among themselves at all costs, so that the full peace that is a divine characteristic may be restored to the community.” [3]
CCC: Mt 18:16 2472; Mt 18:18 553, 1444; Mt 18:20 1088, 1373
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Second Option
Jesus said to his disciples:
"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another."
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Commentary on Jn 15:12-17
This selection is part of the discourse on the union of Jesus with his disciples. His words become a monologue, and go beyond the immediate crisis of his departure. There is much made of the use of the difference in the Greek words for “love” used in this discourse. When Jesus says: “No one has greater love than this…,” the word agapao (intimate, selfless love) is used, while when he says: “You are my friends…,” the word phileo (casual "friendly" (brotherly) type of love) is used. St. John uses the two words synonymously so the message is clear – reiterated at the end of the passage – “love one another.”
CCC: Jn 15:12 459, 1823, 1970, 2074; Jn 15:13 363, 609, 614; Jn 15:15 1972, 2347; Jn 15:16-17 2745; Jn 15:16 434, 737, 2615, 2815
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[1] See NAB footnote on 1 Corinthians 13:13
[2] See NAB footnote on Matthew 18:15ff
[3] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume II, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 2003 p. 629
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