Year II. The author admits his ignorance and attests to the solid value of divine wisdom. He prays for faithfulness and a life of neither abundance nor want. Gospel. Luke, more than the other evangelists, stresses the poverty of the apostle and thus spiritualizes the mission of the herald of the gospel. Still, he has
Year II. How do we deal with our neighbour? Justice is more important than sacrifice, and we should hear the cries of the poor. Gospel. After his parables on the sower of the word and of the lamp, Luke, using the incident of Mary and Jesus’ relatives seeking him out in the crowd, sums up
Year II. How will the dead rise? A person dies, but dies like a seed, and from that seed a new plant is born and rises in glory. Gospel. We hear today Luke’s version of the parable of the seed. In Jesus’ original intent, it pictured the difficult growth of the kingdom towards its final
Year II. Indeed, Christ is alive. He is risen. And if he is risen, we too will rise. The two go together. Without the resurrection of Christ and ours, we believe in vain. Gospel. Luke is the evangelist who describes the contribution of women in the apostolate of Jesus. Christ has liberated them from the
Year II. The core of the good news that Paul brings to the Corinthians is the resurrection of Jesus. Paul insists because Greeks do not easily accept this truth. For Christians, the resurrection means life more than a dogma; it means hope and a great future. Gospel. A woman with a bad reputation, which she
Year II. St Paul gives us today his famous hymn to Christian love. It is greater than any charism, for charisms are vain if not rooted in love. Look at all the great things that love produces. Love will never pass, for all the rest is vowed to disappear. Gospel. Luke compares those who reject
Year II. What makes the body beautiful – and functional at the same time – is the variety of its members. Variety does not mean factions (cf. yesterday), but a diversity of talents, charismas and functions to be coordinated for the good of the whole. But there lies its greatness and danger. Diversity is destructive or constructive,
Year II. Though Christians can eat the meat that had been used in pagan offerings, they can never take part in the sacred meals of sacrifices offered to idols, for that would be tantamount to communion with the false god. They should remember that the Christian sacrifice signifies that they are in union with Christ,
Year II. Paul says he has put his life in the service of the gospel, and by doing so, he has only done what he was supposed to do. He has given the gospel to people free of charge. It had come to him as a grace, and he gives it to others as a
Year II. In ancient Greece, much of the meat from sacrifices was sold as food for the people. By eating this meat, did Christians share in idolatry? They do not honour false gods, since these do not exist, says Paul. But as some Christians are scrupulous, it is better not to offend them and therefore
