From: Ephesians 2:19-22
Reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in Christ (Continuation)
[19] So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are
fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
[20] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ
Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure
is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; [22] in
whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the
Spirit.
Commentary:
11-22. What is the significance of the calling of the Gentiles to the
Church? Their previous situation, separated from Christ (vv. 11-12),
has undergone radical change as a result of the Redemption Christ
achieved on the Cross: that action has, on the one hand, brought the
two peoples together (made peace between them: vv. 13-15) and, on the
other, it has reconciled them with God, whose enemy each was (vv. 16-
18). The Redemption has given rise to the Church, which St Paul here
describes as a holy temple built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets (vv. 19-22).
19. After describing the Redemption wrought by Christ and applied in
the Church by the Holy Spirit, St Paul arrives at this conclusion: the
Gentiles are no longer strangers; they belong to Christ's Church.
In the new Israel (the Church) privileges based on race, culture or
nationality cease to apply. No baptized person, be he Jew or Greek,
slave or free man, can be regarded as an outsider or stranger in the
new people of God. All have proper citizenship papers. The Apostle
explains this by using two images: The Church is the city of saints,
and God's family or household (cf. 1 Tim 3:15). The two images are
complementary: everyone has a family, and everyone is a citizen. In
the family context, the members are united by paternal, filial and
fraternal links, and love presides; family life has a special privacy.
But as a citizen one is acting in a public capacity; public affairs and
business must be conducted in a manner that is in keeping with laws
designed to ensure that justice is respected. The Church has some of
the characteristics of a family, and some of those of a polity (cf. St
Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on Eph, ad loc.").
The head of the Church is Christ himself, and in his Church are
assembled the children of God, who are to live as brothers and sisters,
united by love. Grace, faith, hope, charity and the action of the Holy
Spirit are invisible realities which forge the links bringing together
all the members of the Church, which is moreover something very
visible, ruled by the successor of Peter and by the other bishops (cf.
Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 8), and governed by laws--divine and
ecclesiastical--which are to be obeyed.
20-22. To better explain the Church, the Apostle links the image of
"the household of God" to that of God's temple and "building" (cf. 1
Cor. 3:9). Up to this he has spoken of the Church mainly as the body of
Christ (v. 16). This image and that of a building are connected: our
Lord said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up"
(Jn 2:19), and St John goes on to explain that he was speaking "of the
temple of his body" (Jn 2:21). If the physical body of Christ is the
true temple of God because Christ is the Son of God, the Church can
also be seen as God's true temple, because it is the mystical body of
Christ.
The Church is the temple of God. "Jesus Christ is, then, the foundation
stone of the new temple of God. Rejected, discarded, left to one side,
and done to death--then as now--the Father made him and continues to
make him the firm immovable basis of the new work of building. This he
does through his glorious resurrection [...].
"The new temple, Christ's body, which is spiritual and invisible, is
constructed by each and every baptized person on the living
cornerstone, Christ, to the degree that they adhere to him and 'grow'
in him towards 'the fullness of Christ'. In this temple and by means of
it, the 'dwelling place of God in the Spirit', he is glorified, by
virtue of the 'holy priesthood' which offers spiritual sacrifices (1
Pet 2:5), and his kingdom is established in the world.
"The apex of the new temple reaches into heaven, while, on earth,
Christ, the cornerstone, sustains it by means of the foundation he
himself has chosen and laid down--'the apostles and prophets' (Eph 2:
20) and their successors, that is, in the first place, the college of
bishops and the 'rock', Peter (Mt 16: 18)" (John Paul II, "Homily at
Orcasitas, Madrid", 3 November 1981).
Christ Jesus is the stone: this indicates his strength; and he is the
cornerstone because in him the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, are
joined together (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on Eph, ad loc".).
The Church is founded on this strong, stable bedrock; this cornerstone
is what gives it its solidity. St Augustine expresses his faith in the
perennial endurance of the Church in these words: "The Church will
shake if its foundation shakes, but can Christ shake? As long as Christ
does not shake, so shall the Church never weaken until the end of time"
("Enarrationes in Psalmos", 103).
Every faithful Christian, every living stone of this temple of God,
must stay fixed on the solid cornerstone of Christ by cooperating in
his or her own sanctification. The Church grows "when Christ is, after
a manner, built into the souls of men and grows in them, and when souls
also are built into Christ and grow in him; so that on this earth of
our exile a great temple is daily in course of building, in which the
divine majesty receives due and acceptable worship" (Pius XII,
"Mediator Dei", 6).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
From: John 20:24-29
Jesus Appears to the Disciples (Continuation)
[24] Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them
when Jesus came. [25] So the other disciples told him, "We have seen
the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print
of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place
my hand in His side, I will not believe."
[26] Eight days later, His disciples were again in the house, and
Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood
among them, and said, "Peace be with you." [27] Then He said to
Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand,
and place it in My side; do not be faithless, but believing." [28]
Thomas answered Him, "My Lord and my God!" [29] Jesus said to him,
"Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who
have not seen and yet believe."
Commentary:
24-28. Thomas' doubting moves our Lord to give him special proof that
His risen body is quite real. By so doing He bolsters the faith of
those who would later on find faith in Him. "Surely you do not think",
[Pope] St. Gregory the Great comments, "that is was a pure accident
that the chosen disciple was missing; who on his return was told about
the appearance and on hearing about it doubted; doubting, so that he
might touch and believe by touching? It was not an accident; God
arranged that it should happen. His clemency acted in this wonderful
way so that through the doubting disciple touching the wounds in His
Master's body, our own wounds of incredulity might be healed. [...]
And so the disciple, doubting and touching, was changed into a witness
of the truth of the Resurrection" ("In Evangelia Homiliae", 26, 7).
Thomas' reply is not simply an exclamation: it is an assertion, an
admirable act of faith in the divinity of Christ: "My Lord and my
God!" These words are an ejaculatory prayer often used by Christians,
especially as an act of faith in the real presence of Christ in the
Blessed Eucharist.
29. [Pope] St. Gregory the Great explains these words of our Lord as
follows: "By St. Paul saying `faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things unseen' (Hebrews 11:1), it becomes clear
that faith has to do with things which are not seen, for those which
are seen are no longer the object of faith, but rather of experience.
Well then, why is Thomas told, when he saw and touched, `Because you
have seen, you have believed?' Because he saw one thing, and believed
another. It is certain that mortal man cannot see divinity; therefore,
he saw the man and recognized Him as God, saying, `My Lord and my
God.' In conclusion: seeing, he believed, because contemplating that
real man he exclaimed that He was God, whom he could not see" ("In
Evangelia Homiliae", 27, 8).
Like everyone else Thomas needed the grace of God to believe, but in
addition to this grace he was given an exceptional proof; his faith
would have had more merit had he accepted the testimony of the other
Apostles. Revealed truths are normally transmitted by word, by the
testimony of other people who, sent by Christ and aided by the Holy
Spirit, preach the deposit of faith (cf. Mark 16:15-16). "So faith
comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from the preaching of
Christ" (Romans 10:17). The preaching of the Gospel, therefore,
carries with it sufficient guarantees of credibility, and by accepting
that preaching man "offers the full submission of his intellect and
will to God who reveals, willingly assenting to the revelation given"
(Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 5).
"What follows pleases us greatly: `Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet believe.' For undoubtedly it is we who are meant, who confess
with our soul Him whom we have not seen in the flesh. It refers to us,
provided we live in accordance with the faith, for only he truly
believes who practices what the believes" ("In Evangelia Homiliae", 26,
9).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Reading I 