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From: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Grounds for hope

[14] “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. [15] In those days and at
that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall
execute justice and righteousness in the land. [16] In those days Judah will be
saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will
be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

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Commentary:

33:14-26. These verses, which are not in the Septuagint and which may be a la-
ter addition, are a collection of messianic announcements based on the unchan-
ging nature of the Lord’s promise. He will keep the Davidic dynasty in being
through a descendant of David (vv. 15-16; cf. 23:5-6; 2 Sam 7:12-16) and will en-
sure that there are always Levites to perform the functions of priests (vv. 17-18).
This pact will be as fixed as the laws that govern the universe (vv. 19-26: cf. 33:
2). The “two families” (v. 24) refer to Israel (Jacob) and Judah (David).

The New Testament shows that all the promises in the “Book of Consolation”
find fulfillment in Jesus Christ, son of David (cf. Mt 1:1), the eternal high priest of
the New Covenant (cf. Heb 8:1-13). “God is ever faithful, and he has placed him-
self in our debt, not because he has received anything from us, but through all
the promises he has made to us. In his own eyes, the promises seem to be of
little value; he has put them in writing, a compendium of promises, so that we
will be able to read them, one after another, as they come to pass. As has been
said many times before, the prophetic era is made up of the days in which the
Lord made his promises” (St Augustine, “Enarrationes in Psalmos”, 109, 1).

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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: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

He (Paul) Prays for the Thessalonians

[12] And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another
and to all men, as we do to you, [13] so that he may establish your hearts un-
blamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord
Jesus with all his saints.

He Calls for Holiness and Purity

[1] Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you
learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing,
you do so more and more. [2] For you know what instructions we gave you
through the Lord Jesus.

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Commentary:

12-13. Love is a supernatural virtue which inclines us to love God (for his own
sake) above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Given
that charity is a virtue which God infuses into the soul, it is something we must
not only practice but also ask God to increase in us.

Supernatural love, or charity, embraces everyone without exception. “Loving one
person and showing indifference to others”, St John Chrysostom observes, “is
characteristic of purely human affection; but St Paul is telling us that our love
should not be restricted in any way” (”Hom. on 1 Thess, ad loc.”). When a per-
son practices this virtue in an uninhibited way, his holiness gains in strength:
he becomes irreproachable “before our Lord and Father”; “in this does the true
merit of virtue really consist—and not in simply being blameless before men [...].
Yes, I shall say it again: it is charity, it is love, which makes us blameless”
(”ibid.”).

“With all his saints”: referring to believers who died in the grace of God.

1. St Paul encourages the Thessalonians “in the Lord Jesus” to follow his ad-
vice: he does not make this plea in his own name or using his personal influence
but in the name of the Lord Jesus. Those who have positions of authority in the
Church should be obeyed, above all, for supernatural reasons (that is what God
desires) and not for any personal qualities they happen to have or simply be-
cause they are “superiors”. It is this outlook which causes St Ignatius Loyola to
say that “laying aside all private judgment, we ought to keep our minds prepared
and ready to obey in all things the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our
Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church” (”Spiritual Exercises”, 353).

The Thessalonians already knew the commandments, but knowing them is not
enough; they must be put into practice. St John Chrysostom comments: “Good
land does something more than give back the grain put into it; and therefore the
soul should not limit itself to doing what is laid down, but should go further [...].
Two things make for virtue—avoiding evil and doing good. Fleeing from evil is not
the be-all of virtue; it is the beginning of the path that leads to virtue. One needs,
in addition, to have an ardent desire to be good and to do good” (”Hom. on 1
Thess, ad loc.”).

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