Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
The Wisdom of the Cross (Continuation)
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[26] For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; [27] but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. [28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [30] He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; [31] therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord."
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Commentary:
26-29. As in the case of the Apostles "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (Jn 15:16)--it is the Lord who chooses, who gives each Christian his vocation. St Paul emphasizes that the initiative lies with God by saying three times that it was God who chose those Corinthians to be Christians, and he did not base his choice on human criteria. Human wisdom, power, nobility, these were not what brought them to the faith--nor the inspirations which God later gives. "God is no respecter of persons (cf. 2 Chron 19:7; Rom 2:1; Eph 6:9; Col 3:25; etc.)", St. J. Escriva reminds us. "When he invites a soul to live a life fully in accordance with the faith, he does not set store by merits of fortune, nobility, blood or learning. God's call precedes all merits [...]. Vocation comes first. God loves us before we even know how to go toward him, and he places in us the love with which we can respond to his call" ("Christ Is Passing By", 33).
Thus, God chooses whomever he wants to, and these first Christians-- uneducated, unimportant, even despised people, in the world's eyes-- will be what he uses to spread his Church and convert the wise, the strong and the "important": this disproportion between resources and results will make it quite clear that God is responsible for the increase.
However, this does not mean that none of the first Christians was educated or influential, humanly speaking. The Acts of the Apostles, for example, tell us about early converts who were out of the ordinary --a minister of the court of the Kandake of Ethiopia; a centurion, Cornelius; Apollos; Dionysius the Areopagite; etc. "It would appear that worldly excellence is not godly unless God uses it for his honor. And therefore, although at the beginning they were indeed few, later God chose many humanly outstanding people for the ministry of preaching. Hence the gloss which says, 'If the fisherman had not faithfully led the way, the orator would not have humbly followed"' (St Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc".).
27. St Paul's words remind us that supernatural resources are the thing an apostle must rely on. It is true that human resources are necessary, and God counts on them (cf. 1 Cor 3:5-10); but the task God has commended to Christians exceeds their abilities and can be carried out only with his help. The Second Vatican Council reminded priests of this verse, when stressing the need for humility; and what it says can be useful to all Christians: "The divine task for the fulfillment of which they have been set apart by the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 13:2) transcends all human strength and human wisdom; for 'God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong' (1 Cor 1:27). Therefore the true minister of Christ is conscious of his own weakness and labors in humility. He tries to discover what is well-pleasing to God (cf. Eph 5:10) and, bound as it were in the Spirit (cf. Acts 20:22), he is guided in all things by the will of him who wishes all men to be saved. He is able to discover and carry out that will in the course of his daily routine by humbly placing himself at the service of all those who are entrusted to his care by God in the office that has been committed to him and the variety of events that make up his life" ("Presbyterorum Ordinis", 15).
The Parable of the Talents
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [14] "For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; [15] to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. [16] He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. [17] So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. [18] But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. [19] Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. [20] And he who received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, `Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' [21] His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.' [22] And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, `Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' [23] His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.'
[24] He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, `Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; [25] so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' [26] But his master answered him, `You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? [27] Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. [28] So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. [29] For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. [30] And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.'"
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Commentary:
14-30. A talent was not any kind of coin but a measure of value worth about fifty kilos (one hundred pounds) of silver.
In this parable the main message is the need to respond to grace by making a genuine effort right through one's life. All the gifts of nature and grace which God has given us should yield a profit. It does not matter how many gifts we have received; what matters is our generosity in putting them to good use.
A person's Christian calling should not lie hidden and barren: it should be outgoing, apostolic and self-sacrificial. "Don't lose your effectiveness; instead, trample on your selfishness. You think your life is for yourself? Your life is for God, for the good of all men, though your love for our Lord. Your buried talent, dig it up again! Make it yield" (St J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 47).
An ordinary Christian cannot fail to notice that Jesus chose to outline his teaching on response to grace by using the simile of men at work. Here we have a reminder that the Christian normally lives out his vocation in the context of ordinary, everyday affairs. "There is just one life, made of flesh and spirit. And it is this life which has to become, in both soul and body, holy and filled with God. We discover the invisible God in the most visible and material things. There is no other way. Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we shall never find Him" (St J. Escriva, "Conversations", 114).
Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary