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From: Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 5-6, 8-10

The Law is read out. The Feast of Tabernacles

[2] And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and wo-
men and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh
month. [3] And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from ear-
ly morning until midday, in the presence of the man and the women and those
who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book
of the law. [4] And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden pulpit which they had
made for the purpose; [5] And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the peo-
ple, for he was above all the people; and when he opened it all the people stood.
[6] And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God; and all the people answered, “A-
men, Amen,” lifting up their hands; and they bowed their heads and worshipped
the Lord with their faces to the ground. [8] And they read from the book, from the
law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the
reading.

[9] And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and
the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the
Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard
the words of the law. [10] Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and
drink sweet wine and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this
day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your
strength.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

8:1-18 The text of this chapter forms part of the “memoirs of Ezra” which the
sacred writer has moved and positioned here in the account of the rebuilding of
the city. By doing so, he highlights the importance of the Law in the new stage
of the history of the chosen people (as the writer sees it, this stage begins with
the reconstruction of their national and religious life spearheaded by Ezra the
priest and Nehemiah the layman). We do not know the exact year when the e-
vents dealt with here occurred, nor the exact content of the Law proclaimed on
this occasion. It is possible that a substantial part of the present Pentateuch
was read out.

The reading and explanation of the Law did not take place inside the temple; the
people gathered around the stage specially set up in front of that building. From
the time of Solomon up to the fall of Jerusalem, religious activity centered on the
temple liturgy. From the exile onwards it was built around the Law by means of
the institution of the synagogue. Because they could not go up to the House of
the Lord, exiles used to meet in private houses or in the open air to listen to the
reading of legal and prophetical texts. The formal meeting described here, held
in a square beside the city wall, shows that in this new stage, with Ezra to the
fore, the Law of the Lord was coming to occupy pride of place in the religious life
of the people, and that it was already more important than the offering of victims
for the purpose of sacrifice.

When they hear the commandments of the Law read out, the people weep be-
cause they have not been keeping some of them and they are afraid that God
will punish them on that account. But Ezra and the Levites make them see that
what they have to do is to start again, on that day, for it is a “holy” day. It was
the festival day of the new civil year (cf. Lev 23:24-25; Num 29:1-6).

The proclamation of the Law seems to be linked to the celebration of the feast
of Booths (or Tents, or Tabernacles). That celebration was already (briefly) men-
tioned in Ezra 3:4-6, but there is a new element here (which must be due to Ez-
ra’s interpretation) – the fact that the booths are made with branches cut in the
hills (cf. Lev 23:39-43). No mention is made of the day of Atonement which was
celebrated on the tenth day of the same month (cf. Lev 23:26-32). During the se-
ven days of the feast of booths Ezra keeps reading out the Law as Deuteronomy
31:9-13 lays down must be done when the year is a sabbatical one. In these ac-
tions of Ezra and the Levites, the teachers of the Laws, we can see the origin of
what will become the “Great Assembly”, the official body which will, in the cen-
turies to come, interpret the Law and identify which books form part of the ca-
non. The reading of the books of the Law will from now on become the most im-
portant way of meeting God and listening to his word.

*********************************************************************************************
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: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-30

Unity and Variety in the Mystical Body of Christ

[12] For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members
of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13] For by one
Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free —
and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

[14] For the body does not consist of one member but of many. [15] If the foot
should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would
not make it any less a part of the body. [16] And if the ear should say, “Because
I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a
part of the body. [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?
If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? [18] But as it
is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19] If
all were a single organ, where would the body be? [20] As it is, there are many
parts, yet one body. [21] The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of
you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” [22] On the contra-
ry, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23] and
those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater
honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, [24] which
our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body,
giving the greater honor to the inferior part, [25] that there may be no discord in
the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. [26] If
one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice to-
gether.

[27] Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28] And God
has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then
workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various
kinds of tongues. [29] Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do
all work miracles? [30] Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with
tongues? Do all interpret?

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

12-13. In Greek and Latin literature, society is often compared to a body: even
today we talk of “corporations”, a term which conveys the idea that all the citi-
zens of a particular city are responsible for the common good. St Paul, starting
with this metaphor, adds two important features: 1) he identifies the Church with
Christ: “so it is with Christ” (v. 12); and 2) he says that the Holy Spirit is its life-
principle: “by one Spirit we were all baptized . . ., and all made to drink of the
Spirit” (v. 13). The Magisterium summarizes this teaching by defining the Church
as the “mystical body of Christ”, an expression which “is derived from and is, as
it were, the fair flower of the repeated teaching of Sacred Scripture and the holy
Fathers” (Pius XII, “Mystici Corporis”).

“So it is with Christ”: “One would have expected him to say, so it is with the
Church, but he does not say that [. . .]. For, just as the body and the head are
one man, so too Christ and the Church are one, and therefore instead of ‘the
Church’ he says ‘Christ”’ (Chrysostom, “Hom. on 1 Cor”, 30, “ad loc.”). This iden-
tification of the Church with Christ is much more than a mere metaphor; it makes
the Church a society which is radically different from any other society: “The com-
complete Christ is made up of the head and the body, as I am sure you know
well. The head is our Savior himself, who suffered under Pontius Pilate and now,
after rising from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father. And his body
is the Church. Not this or that church, but the Church which is to be found all over
the world. Nor is it only that which exists among us today, for also belonging to it
are those who lived before us and those who will live in the future, right up to the
end of the world. All this Church, made up of the assembly of the faithful — for all
the faithful are members of Christ—has Christ as its head, governing his body from
heaven. And although this head is located out of sight of the body, he is, however,
joined to it by love” (St Augustine, “Enarrationes In Psalmos”, 56, 1).

The Church’s remarkable unity derives from the Holy Spirit who not only assem-
bles the faithful into a society but also imbues and vivifies its members, exerci-
sing the same function as the soul does in a physical body: “In order that we
might be unceasingly renewed in him (cf. Eph 4:23), he has shared with us his
Spirit who, being one and the same in head and members, gives life to, unifies
and moves the whole body. Consequently, his work could be compared by the
Fathers to the function that the principle of life, the soul, fulfills in the human bo-
dy” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 7).

“All were made to drink of one Spirit”: given that the Apostle says this immedia-
tely after mentioning Baptism, he seems to be referring to a further outpouring of
the Spirit, possibly in the sacrament of Confirmation. It is not uncommon for Sa-
cred Scripture to compare the outpouring of the Spirit to drink, indicating that the
effects of his presence are to revive the parched soul; in the Old Testament the
coming of the Holy Spirit is already compared to dew, rain etc.; and St John re-
peats what our Lord said about “living water” (Jn 7:38; cf. 4:13-14).

Together with the sacraments of Christian initiation, the Eucharist plays a spe-
cial role in building up the unity of the body of Christ. “Really sharing in the body
of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into commu-
nion with him and with one another. ‘Because the bread is one, we, who are ma-
ny, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread’ (1 Cor 10:17). In this way
all of us are made members of his body (cf. 1 Cor 12:27), ‘and individual mem-
bers of one another’ (Rom 12:5)” (”Lumen Gentium”, 7).

14-27. The unity of the mystical body, which derives from a single life-principle,
the Holy Spirit, and tends towards a common same goal, that is, the building
up of the Church, means that all its members, whatever their position, have the
same basic dignity and the same importance. St Paul develops this thinking by
a very effective literary device: he personifies the members of the human body
and imagines the nobler members looking down on the lesser ones (vv. 21-24).
This serves to reaffirm the truth of v. 25: “that the members may have the same
care for one another”. The responsibility of each Christian derives from the very
essence of the vocation he or she receives at Baptism and Confirmation: “In the
Church there is a diversity of ministries,” St. Escriva explains, “but there is only
one aim — the sanctification of men. And in this task all Christians participate in
some way, through the character imprinted by the sacraments of Baptism and
Confirmation. We must all feel responsible for the mission of the Church, which
is the mission of Christ. He who does not have zeal for the salvation of souls, he
who does not strive with all his strength to make the name and the teaching of
Christ known and loved, will not understand the apostolicity of the Church.

“A passive Christian has failed to understand what Christ wants from all of us.
A Christian who ‘goes his own way’, unconcerned about the salvation of others,
does not love with the heart of Jesus. Apostolate is not a mission exclusive to
the hierarchy, or to priests and religious. The Lord calls all of us to be, by our
example and word, instruments of the stream of grace which springs up to eter-
nal life” (”In Love with the Church”, 15).

28-30. St Paul concludes this description of the different parts of the body by ap-
plying it to the Church, where variety of functions does not detract from unity. It
would be a serious mistake not to recognize in the visible structure of the Church,
which is so multifaceted, the fact that the Church founded by Christ is “one”, visi-
ble at the same time as it is spiritual. The Second Vatican Council puts this very
clearly: “But the society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical bo-
dy of Christ, the visible society and the spiritual community, the earthly Church
and the Church endowed with heavenly riches, are not to be thought of as two
realities. On the contrary, they form one complex reality which comes together
from a human element and a divine element. For this reason the Church is com-
pared, not without significance, to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As the as-
sumed nature, inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living or-
gan of salvation, so, in a somewhat similar way, does the social structure of the
Church serve the Spirit of Christ who vivifies it, in the building up of the body (cf.
Eph 4:15)” “Lumen Gentium”, 8).

The Church is this way because that is the will of its founder, Jesus Christ: “The
Church is by divine will a hierarchical institution. The Second Vatican Council de-
scribes it as a ‘society structured with hierarchical organs’ (”Lumen Gentium”, 8)
in which ‘ministers are invested with a sacred power’ (”ibid., 18). The hierarchy is
not only compatible with freedom: it is at the service of the freedom of the chil-
dren of God (cf. Rom 8:21). [...] ‘Hierarchy’ means holy government and sacred
order. In no way does it imply a merely human arbitrary order or a subhuman
despotism. Our Lord established in the Church a hierarchical order which should
not degenerate into tyranny, because authority is as much a call to serve as is
obedience.

“In the Church there is equality, because once baptized we are all equal, all chil-
dren of the same God, our Father. There is no difference as Christians between
the Pope and someone who has just joined the Church. But this radical equality
does not mean that we can change the constitution of the Church in those things
that were established by Christ. By expressed divine will there are different func-
tions which imply different capacities, an indelible ‘character’ conferred on the sa-
cred ministers by the sacrament of Order. At the summit of this order is Peter’s
successors and with him, and under him, all the bishops with the triple mission
of sanctifying, governing and teaching” (St. J. Escriva, “In Love with the Church”,
30).

*********************************************************************************************
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 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Prologue

[1:1] Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things
which have been accomplished among us, [2] just as they were delivered to us
by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word,
[3] it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time
past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, [4] that you
may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed.

[4:14] And Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit into Galilee, and a re-
port concerning Him went out through all the surrounding country. [15] And He
taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Jesus Preaches in Nazareth

[16] And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and He went to
the synagogue, as His custom was, on the Sabbath Day. And He stood up to
read; [17] and there was given to Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened
the book and found the place where it was written, [18] “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has
sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed, [19] to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord.” [20] And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant,
and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. [21] And
He began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1-4. St. Luke is the only evangelist to give his book a preface or prologue. What
is usually described as the “prologue” to St. John is really a summary of what
the Gospel contains. St. Luke’s prologue, which is very short and very elegantly
written, describes why he has written the book—to provide an orderly, documen-
ted account of the life of Christ, starting at the beginning.

These verses help us realize that Jesus Christ’s message of salvation, the Gos-
pel, was preached before it came to be written down: cf. the quotation from Vati-
can II’s “Dei Verbum”, 19 (p. 21 above). God, then, wanted us to have written
Gospels as a permanent, divine testimony providing a firm basis for our faith. “He
does not tell Theophilus new things, things he did not previously know; he under-
takes to tell him the truth concerning the things in which he has already been in-
structed. This he does so that you can know everything you have been told about
the Lord and His doings” (St. Bede, “In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.”).

2. The “eyewitnesses” the evangelist refers to would have been the Blessed Vir-
gin, the Apostles, the holy women and others who shared Jesus’ life during His
time on earth.

3. “It seemed good to me”: “When he says ‘it seemed good to me’ this does not
exclude God’s action, because it is God who prepares men’s will [...] . He dedi-
cates his Gospel to Theophilus, that is, to one whom God loves. But if you love
God, it has also been written for you; and if it has been written for you, then ac-
cept this present from the evangelist, keep this token of friendship very close to
your heart” (St. Ambrose, “Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc.”).

16-30. For the Jews the Sabbath was a day of rest and prayer, as God comman-
ded (Exodus 20:8-11). On that day they would gather together to be instructed
in Sacred Scripture. At the beginning of this meeting they all recited the “Shema”,
a summary of the precepts of the Lord, and the “eighteen blessings”. Then a
passage was read from the Book of the Law—the Pentateuch—and another from
the Prophets. The president invited one of those present who was well versed in
the Scriptures to address the gathering. Sometimes someone would volunteer
and request the honor of being allowed to give this address—as must have hap-
pened on this occasion. Jesus avails Himself of this opportunity to instruct the
people (cf. Luke 4:16ff), as will His Apostles later on (cf. Acts 13:5, 14, 42, 44;
14:1; etc.). The Sabbath meeting concluded with the priestly blessing, recited
by the president or by a priest if there was one present, to which the people
answered “Amen” (cf. Numbers 6:22ff).

18-21. Jesus read the passage from Isaiah 61:1-2 where the prophet announces
the coming of the Lord, who will free His people of their afflictions. In Christ this
prophecy finds its fulfillment, for He is the Anointed, the Messiah whom God has
sent to His people in their tribulation. Jesus has been anointed by the Holy Spirit
for the mission the Father has entrusted to Him. “These phrases, according to
Luke (verses 18-19), are His first messianic declaration. They are followed by the
actions and words known through the Gospel. By these actions and words Christ
makes the Father present among men” (John Paul II, “Dives In Misericordia”, 3).

The promises proclaimed in verses 18 and 19 are the blessings God will send
His people through the Messiah. According to Old Testament tradition and
Jesus’ own preaching (cf. note on Matthew 5:3), “the poor” refers not so much to
a particular social condition as to a very religious attitude of indigence and humi-
lity towards God, which is to be found in those who, instead of relying on their
possessions and merits, trust in God’s goodness and mercy. Thus, preaching
good news to the poor means bringing them the “good news” that God has taken
pity on them. Similarly, the Redemption, the release, which the text mentions, is
to be understood mainly in a spiritual, transcendental sense: Christ has come to
free us from the blindness and oppression of sin, which, in the last analysis, is
slavery imposed on us by the devil. “Captivity can be felt”, St. John Chrysostom
teaches in a commentary on Psalm 126, “when it proceeds from physical ene-
mies, but the spiritual captivity referred to here is worse; sin exerts a more severe
tyranny, evil takes control and blinds those who lend it obedience; from this spiri-
tual prison Jesus Christ rescued us” (”Catena Aurea”). However, this passage is
also in line with Jesus’ special concern for those most in need. “Similarly, the
Church encompasses with her love all those who are afflicted by human misery
and she recognizes in those who are poor and who suffer the image of her poor
and suffering Founder. She does all in her power to relieve their need and in them
she strives to serve Christ” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 8).

18-19. The words of Isaiah which Christ read out on this occasion describe very
graphically the reason why God has sent His Son into the world — to redeem
men from sin, to liberate them from slavery to the devil and from eternal death. It
is true that in the course of His public ministry Christ, in His mercy, worked ma-
ny cures, cast out devils, etc. But He did not cure all the sick people in the world,
nor did He eliminate all forms of distress in this life, because pain, which entered
the world through sin, has a permanent redemptive value when associated with
the sufferings of Christ. Therefore, Christ worked miracles not so much to release
the people concerned from suffering, as to demonstrate that He had a God-given
mission to bring everyone to eternal salvation.

The Church carries on this mission of Christ: “Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). These simple
and sublime words, which conclude the Gospel of St. Matthew, point out “the ob-
ligation to preach the truths of faith, the need for sacramental life, the promise of
Christ’s continual assistance to His Church. You cannot be faithful to our Lord if
you neglect these supernatural demands—to receive instruction in Christian faith
and morality and to frequent the sacraments. It is with this mandate that Christ
founded His Church [...] . And the Church can bring salvation to souls only if she
remains faithful to Christ in her constitution and teaching, both dogmatic and mo-
ral.

“Let us reject, therefore, the suggestion that the Church, ignoring the Sermon
on the Mount, seeks a purely human happiness on earth, since we know that her
only task is to bring men to eternal glory in Heaven. Let us reject any purely na-
turalistic view that fails to value the supernatural role of divine grace. Let us reject
materialistic opinions that exclude spiritual values from human life. Let us equally
reject any secularizing theory which attempts to equate the aims of the Church
with those of earthly states, distorting its essence, institutions and activities into
something similar to those of temporal society” (St. J. Escriva, “In Love with the
Church”, 23 and 31).

18. The Fathers of the Church see in this verse a reference to the three persons
of the Holy Trinity: the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) of the Lord (the Father) is upon Me
(the Son); cf. Origen, “Homily 32”. The Holy Spirit dwelt in Christ’s soul from the
very moment of the Incarnation and descended visibly upon Him in the form of a
dove when He was baptized by John (cf. Luke 3:21-22).

“Because He has anointed Me”: this is a reference to the anointing Jesus re-
ceived at the moment of His Incarnation, principally through the grace of the hypo-
static union. “This anointing of Jesus Christ was not an anointing of the body as in
the case of the ancient kings, priests and prophets; rather it was entirely spiritual
and divine, because the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him substantially” (”St.
Pius X Catechism”, 77). From this hypostatic union the fullness of all graces de-
rives. To show this, Jesus Christ is said to have been anointed by the Holy Spirit
Himself—not just to have received the graces and gifts of the Spirit, like the saints.

19. “The acceptable year”: this is a reference to the jubilee year of the Jews,
which the Law of God (Leviticus 25:8) lays down as occurring every fifty years,
symbolizing the era of redemption and liberation which the Messiah would usher
in. The era inaugurated by Christ, the era of the New Law extending to the end of
the world, is “the acceptable year”, the time of mercy and redemption, which will
be obtained definitively in Heaven.

The Catholic Church’s custom of the “Holy Year” is also designed to proclaim
and remind people of the redemption brought by Christ, and of the full form it will
take in the future life.

20-22. Christ’s words in verse 21 show us the authenticity with which He
preached and explained the Scriptures: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing.” Jesus teaches that this prophecy, like the other main prophecies
in the Old Testament, refers to Him and finds its fulfillment in Him (cf. Luke 24:
44ff). Thus, the Old Testament can be rightly understood only in the light of the
New — as the risen Christ showed the Apostles when He opened their minds to
understand the Scriptures (cf. Luke 24:45), an understanding which the Holy
Spirit perfected on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:4).

*********************************************************************************************
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.

Readings at Mass

First reading	Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10 ©

Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women, and children old enough to understand. This was the first day of the seventh month. On the square before the Water Gate, in the presence of the men and women, and children old enough to understand, he read from the book from early morning till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden dais erected for the purpose. In full view of all the people – since he stood higher than all the people – Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, ‘Amen! Amen!’; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prostrated themselves before the Lord. And Ezra read from the Law of God, translating and giving the sense, so that the people understood what was read.

Then Nehemiah – His Excellency – and Ezra, priest and scribe and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all the people, ‘This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.’ For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.

He then said, ‘Go, eat the fat, drink the sweet wine, and send a portion to the man who has nothing prepared ready. For this day is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of the Lord is your stronghold.’

Psalm	Psalm 18:8-10,15 ©