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From: Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23

The Rites of the Old Covenant Prefigure Those of the New

[24] For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the
true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our be-
half. [25] Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Holy
Place yearly with blood not his own; [26] for then he would have had to suffer re-
peatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for
all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] And just
as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so
Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second
time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

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Commentary:

23-28. In these verses the sacred writer adds some additional considerations to
the main line of his argument. His thought centers on linking the sanctuary, the
sacrifices which were offered in the Old Testament sanctuary, and the sacrifice
of the New Covenant. It was “necessary” for Christ to shed his blood so that
men might “receive the promised eternal inheritance” (9:15), that is, forgiveness
of their sins (cf. 9:14). This shedding of blood is also necessary for the “purifica-
tion” of the heavenly things (9:23). The sacrifices of the Mosaic liturgy purified
the things of the old sanctuary and, in some way, pointed to forgiveness of sins
(9:9, 10). The sacrifice of Christ, on the other hand, really does blot out sin and
opens for us the way to heaven itself, giving us entry into that new sanctuary (7:
25; 9:12). But the parallel is not a perfect one, for the old sacrifices were multi-
ple and were constantly repeated in petition of forgiveness (9:25). The sacrifice
of Christ, on the contrary, is a unique sacrifice, because it is eternally effective
(7:27; 9:12). Moreover, whereas the high priest offered a sacrifice not with his
own blood but with the blood of animals, Christ offered his own blood in sacrifice.
Therefore, Christ has offered himself “once” (7:28; 9:12, 26, 28) in the same sort
of way as every man has to die only once and then undergoes judgment. Further-
more, through his sacrifice Christ has passed through the heavens once and for
all and will not return to earth to renew his sacrifice. He will not return until the
end of time, when he will come in glory.

Two truths interweave here a number of times. The first is that Christ entered for-
ever not into a temple made by man but into heaven itself (9:24; 7:26; 8:1). The
second is that Christ also enables us to enter into glory; that is, his sacrifice and
his entry into heaven enable man to attain his last end.

27-28. These verses look at three basic truths of Christian belief about the last
things—1) the immutable decree of death; 2) the fact that there is a judgment im-
mediately after death; 3) the second coming of Christ, in glory.

“Not to deal with sin”: this phrase means that the second coming of Christ or Pa-
rousia, will not be for the purpose of redeeming men from sin but rather to bring
salvation, that is, glory, to those who placed their hope in him. Christ will come
into the world for a second time, but not as Redeemer, for his sacrifice has alrea-
dy eliminated sin once for all; rather, he will come as Judge of all. His coming “is
appointed”: it is as necessary as death and judgment. These three truths are
closely interconnected.

Although man is mortal, “a spiritual element survives and subsists after death, an
element endowed with consciousness and will, so that the ‘human self’ subsists.
To designate this element, the Church uses the word ‘soul’, the accepted term in
the usage of Scripture and Tradition” (SCDF, “Letter on Certain Questions Con-
cerning Eschatology”, 17 May 1979).

Man, then, is made up of a spiritual and immortal soul and a corruptible body.

However, when God originally endowed man with supernatural grace, he gave
him additional gifts, the so-called “preternatural” gifts, which included bodily im-
mortality. Adam’s disobedience resulted in the loss of his friendship with God and
the loss of this preternatural gift. From that point onwards death is “the wages of
sin” (Rom 6:23), and it is to this divine decision that the text refers when it says
that it “is appointed for men to die” (cf. Gen 3:19, 23; Rom 5:12). The Church has
repeatedly stressed that death is a punishment; cf., for example, Pius VI, “Aucto-
rem Fidei”, prop. 1, 7: “in our present state (death) is inflicted as a just punish-
ment for sin”; immortality was an “unmerited gift and not a natural condition”.
Verses 27-28 are an implicit exhortation to watchfulness (cf. also 1 Cor 7:29;
Sir 14:12; and “Lumen Gentium”, 48).

Immediately after death everyone will be judged on the conduct of his life. All
“are to give an account of their lives; those who have done good deeds will go in-
to eternal life; those who have done evil will go into everlasting fire” (”Athanasian
Creed”). This is something which reason with the help of God’s Word can disco-
ver, because people with a correct moral sense realize that good deserves to be
rewarded and evil punished, and that it is impossible for this to occur completely
in this life. It is difficult to say whether Hebrews 9:27 is referring to the “particular
judgment”, which happens immediately after death, or to the general judgment,
which will take place on the last day. Both interpretations can be supported, for
the judgment the verse refers to is connected, on the one hand, with death, and
on the other with the second coming of Christ. In any event, it is clear that what
is meant is a “personal” judgment, a trial at which each individual will be judged
by Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:10; Rom 14:10). The existence of a general judgment does
not conflict with the certainty that there is a particular judgment, for the Church,
in line with Sacred Scripture, although it awaits the glorious revealing of our Lord
Jesus Christ on the last day, sees that event as distinct from and separate in
time from the judgment which every individual will undergo immediately after
death (cf. “Letter on Eschatology, op. cit.”).

The idea of death and judgment, however, should not only inspire fear; it should
also lead us to hope in Christ, for our Lord will come a second time to show him-
self a merciful judge to “those who are eagerly waiting for him”.

Christians, therefore, combine their joyful hope in the establishment of the King-
dom of God, which they wholeheartedly desire, with a desire to make the best
possible use of the time allotted to them in this life. “This urgent solicitude of the
Church, the Spouse of Christ, for the needs of men—for their joys and hopes, their
griefs and labors—is nothing other than her intense desire to share them in full, in
order to illuminate men with the light of Christ and to gather together and unite all
in him who alone is the Savior of each one of them. This solicitude must never be
taken to mean that the Church conforms herself to the things of this world, or that
her longing for the coming of her Lord and his eternal reign grows cold” (Paul VI,
“Creed of the People of God”.

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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.

Hebrew 9:15 from RSV:

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

From: Mark 3:22-30

Allegations of the Scribes

[22] And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He (Jesus) is pos-
sessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons He casts out the demons.”
[23] And He called them to Him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan
cast out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot
stand. [25] And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to
stand. [26] And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot
stand, but is coming to an end. [27] But no one can enter a strong man’s house
and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may
plunder his house.”

Sins Against the Holy Spirit

[28] “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever
blasphemies they utter; [29] but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—[30] for they had said, “He
has an unclean spirit.”

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Commentary:

22-23. Even Jesus’ miracles were misunderstood by these scribes, who accuse
Him of being a tool of the prince of devils, Beelzebul. This name may be con-
nected with Beelzebub (which spelling is given in some codices), the name of a
god of the Philistine city of Eqron (Accaron), which means “god of the flies.” But
it is more likely that the prince of devils is called Beelzebul, which means “god
of excrement”: “excrement” is the word Jews used to describe pagan sacrifices.
Whether Beelzebub or Beelzebul, in the last analysis it refers to him to whom
these sacrifices were offered, the devil (1 Corinthians 10:20). He is the same
mysterious but real person whom Jesus calls Satan, which means “the enemy”,
whose dominion over the world Christ has come to wrest from him (1 Corinthians
15:24-28; Colossians 1:13f) in an unceasing struggle (Matthew 4:1-10; John 16:
11). These names show us that the devil really exists: he is a real person who
has at his beck and call others of his kind (Mark 5:9).

24-27. Our Lord invites the Pharisees, who are blind and obstinate, to think along
these lines: if someone expels the devil this means he is stronger than the devil:
once more we are exhorted to recognize in Jesus the God of strength, the God
who uses His power to free man from enslavement to the devil. Satan’s dominion
has come to an end: the prince of this world is about to be cast out. Jesus’ vic-
tory over the power of darkness, which is completed by His death and resurrec-
tion, shows that the light has already entered the world, as our Lord Himself told
us: “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast
out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John
12:31-32).

28-30. Jesus has just worked a miracle but the scribes refuse to recognize it “for
they had said `He has an unclean spirit’” (verse 30). They do not want to admit
that God is the author of the miracle. In this attitude lies the special gravity of
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—attributing to the prince of evil, to Satan, the
good works performed by God Himself. Anyone acting in this way will become
like the sick person who has so lost confidence in the doctor that he rejects him
as if an enemy and regards as poison the medicine that can save his life. That
is why our Lord says that he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven: not because God cannot forgive all sins, but because that person, in
his blindness towards God, rejects Jesus Christ, His teaching and His miracles,
and despises the graces of the Holy Spirit as if they were designed to trap him
(cf. “St. Pius V Catechism”, II, 5, 19; St. Thomas Aquinas, “Summa theologiae”,
II-II, q. 14, a. 3).

*********************************************************************************************
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. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See

Readings at Mass

First reading	Hebrews 9:15,24-28 ©

Christ brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant. It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf. And he does not have to offer himself again and again, like the high priest going into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own, or else he would have had to suffer over and over again since the world began. Instead of that, he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself. Since men only die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.

Psalm	Psalm 97:1-6 ©