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From: 1 Timothy 1:15-17

Paul Recalls His Own Conversion (Continuation)

[15] The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save. And I am the foremost of sinners; [16] but I received mer-
cy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his
perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal
life. [17] To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and
glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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Commentary:

15. “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance”: or, more literally, “Word
of honor, which you can totally rely on”. This form of words is used a number of
times in the Pastoral Epistles to focus attention on some important doctrinal
point (cf. 1 Tim 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11; Titus 3-8).

The point being emphasized here is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners”. The Apostle has condensed into very few words God’s plan for
the redemption of mankind, which he will go on to say more about later (cf. 1
Tim 2: 3-7; Tit 2:11-14; 3:3-7). “The mercy of God is infinite,” says St Francis
of Assisi, “and, according to the Gospel, even if our sins were infinite, his mercy
is yet greater than our sins. And the Apostle St Paul has said that Christ the
blessed came into the world to save sinners” (”The Little Flowers of St Francis”,
chap. 26).

This is in fact one of the basic truths of faith and appears in the Creed: “For us
men and for our salvation he came down from heaven”. He came to save us from
the only evil, that which can separate us from God—sin.

By his victory over sin Christ gave men and women the honor of being sons
and daughters of God; this new character and status equips them to light up the
world around them with the brightness of their Christian lives (cf. Phil 2:15). They
can have this effect on others if they really commit themselves to have the same
mind as “was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5), for “it is impossible to live according to
the heart of Jesus Christ and not to know that we are sent, as he was, ‘to save
all sinners’ (1 Tim 1:15), with the clear realization that we ourselves need to trust
in the mercy of God more and more every day. As a result, we will foster in our-
selves a vehement desire to be co-redeemers with Christ, to save all souls with
him” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 121).

17. This section (vv. 12-17) closes with a solemn doxology. Similar exclamatory
passages in praise of God appear elsewhere in the Apostle’s writings (Rom 2:36;
16:27; Phil 4:20; etc.). This was probably an early formula used in the liturgy of
Ephesus and other Asia Minor churches. The fact that it ends with an “Amen”
seems to confirm this. In contrast to the energetic attempts of the civil authori-
ties at the time to foster emperor-worship, Christians proclaimed that God is
lord of the universe and will reign forever.

It is true, of course, that because God’s glory is infinite, it cannot be enhanced
by man extolling God’s attributes. However, once one knows the greatness of
God, creator and ruler of the universe, and knows that all things are dependent
on him, one has a duty to show God due honor both internally and externally.
Actions of that kind are expressions of the virtue of religion, whose “actions are
directly and immediately ordered to the honor of God” (”Summa Theologiae”
II-II, q. 81, a. 61). “Of all the duties which man has to fulfill that, without doubt,
is the chiefest and holiest which commands him to worship God with devotion
and piety. This follows of necessity from the truth that we are ever in the power
of God, are ever guided by his will and providence, and, having come forth from
him, must return to him” (Leo XIII, “Libertas Praestantissimum”, 25).

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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.

From: Luke 6:43-49

Integrity (Continuation)

(Jesus said to his disciples,) [43] “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again
does a bad tree bear good fruit; [44] for each tree is known by its own fruit. For
figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
[45] The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the
evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the
heart his mouth speaks.

[46] “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? [47] Every one
who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he
is like: [48] he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foun-
dation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house,
and could not shake it, because it had been well built. [49] But he who hears and
does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a founda-
tion; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that
house was great.”

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Commentary:

43-44. To distinguish the good tree from the bad tree we need to look at the fruit
the tree produces (deeds) and not at its foliage (words). “For there is no lack of
people here on earth who, on being approached, turn out to be nothing but large,
shiny, glossy leaves. Foliage, just foliage and nothing more. Meanwhile, many
souls are looking at us hoping to satisfy their hunger, which is a hunger for God.
We must not forget that we have all the resources we need. We have sufficient
doctrine and the grace of God, in spite of our wretchedness” (St. J. Escriva,
“Friends of God”, 51).

45. Jesus is giving us two similes—that of the tree which, if it is not good, pro-
duces good fruit, and that of the man, who speaks of those things he has in his
heart. “The treasure of the heart is the same as the root of the tree,” St Bede
explains. “A person who has a treasure of patience and of perfect charity in his
heart yields excellent fruit; he loves his neighbor and has all the other qualities
Jesus teaches; he loves his enemies, does good to him who hates him, bles-
ses him who curses him, prays for him who calumniates him, does not react
against him who attacks him or robs him; he gives to those who ask, does not
claim what they have stolen from him, wishes not to judge and does not con-
demn, corrects patiently and affectionately those who err. But the person who
has in his heart the treasure of evil does exactly the opposite: he hates his
friends, speaks evil of him who loves him and does all the other things con-
demned by the Lord” (”In Lucae Evangelium Expositio”, II, 6).

46. Jesus asks us to act in a way consistent with being Christians and not to
make any separation between the faith we profess and the way we live: “What
matters is not whether or not we wear a religious habit; it is whether we try to
practice the virtues and surrender our will to God and order our lives as His Ma-
jesty ordains, and not want to do our will but his” (St Teresa of Avila, “Interior
Castle”, II, 6).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.