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From: Wisdom 11:22-12:2

God, almighty and merciful

[22] Because the whole world before thee is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground.
[23] But thou are merciful to all, for thou canst do all things,
and thou dost overlook men’s sins, that they may repent.
[24] For thou lovest all things that exist,
and hast loathing for none of the things which thou has made,
for though wouldst not have made anything if thou hadst hated it.
[25] How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by thee have been preserved?
[26] Thou sparest all things, for they are thine,
O Lord who lovest the living.

[1] For thy immortal spirit is in all things,
[2] Therefore thou dost correct little by little those who trespass,
and dost remind and warn them of the things wherein they sin,
that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in thee, O Lord.

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Commentary:

11:21-12:2. The lessons given here about God’s steadfast love and mercy towards
all created things are not anything new, of course (cf. Hos 6:4-6; Jn 3:1-4:11), but
maybe there were never quite as forcefully put as here (especially vv. 23-26), and
the style of sapiential argument spells out very well the universal range of God’s
mercy towards sinful man and the love that is at work in creation and in its conser-
vation. St. Thomas deals with this subject with his typical clarity: God would never
have created something which he would then not love, for it derives from him and
participates in his supreme goodness, even if only to a tiny degree: “God loves
all living things. He does not love in the same way as we do, for our will does not
make things good; human love is a movement of the will toward its object [â€¦];
the love of God creates and fills all things with goodness” (”Summa theologiae”,
1, 20, 2).

Therefore, when God punishes man, as he sometimes does, his intention is al-
ways one of love and mercy. It is this divine purpose that 11:23-26 takes pleasure
in showing to be all-encompassing: God is all-powerful; nothing, no one, can re-
sist him; his mercy does not stem from any weakness on his part; it is the effect
of love: he loves the living.

Origen used this passage to draw lessons about God’s all-embracing love: “Be-
cause we are his children, the Lord encourages us to develop the same attitude,
and teaches us to do good works for all mankind. For that is why He is called the
‘saviour of all people, especially of those who believe in him’ (1 Tim 4:10), and this
Christ the ‘expiation of ours sins, and the sins of the whole world’ (1 Jn 2:2)” (Con-
tra Celsum, 4, 28).

St Gregory the Great, in his homilies to the people of Rome, exhorted them to
appreciate God’s unlimited love for sinners: “Here we read that he appeals to all
those who are stained with sin, and cries out to all those who have abandoned
him. Let us not spurn the hand of mercy that he holds out to us; let us not fail to
see the great value of the love the Lord has for us. In his kindness he calls out to
those who have lost their way, and he prepares a place for us, for when we return
to his heart of mercy. Let each person consider the debt that weighs him down â€“
and all the while God waits and never loses his patience with us. Let those who
chose not to stay with him return to him; let those who failed to appreciate his
love stand close by his side, so that they may be raised up” (”Homiliae in Evan-
gelia”, 33).

The passage also underlines God’s loving providence towards all created beings.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 301 puts it as follows: “With creation, God
does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and
existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being,
enables them to act and bring them to their final end. Recognizing this utter de-
pendence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy
and confidence.”

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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: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2

Prayer for perseverance

[11] To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of
his call, and may fulfil every good resolve and work of faith by his power, [12] so
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, accor-
ding to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The coming of the Lord

[1] Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to
meet him, we beg you, brethren, [2] not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited,
either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that
the day of the Lord has come.

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Commentary:

11. St Paul takes up the thread of the prayer he began in v. 4, asking God to
keep the believers true to their calling. He himself is a very good example of how
teachers of Christian doctrine should approach their work; he does not confine
himself to expounding the truths of faith: the first step he takes is to pray for his
work to be fruitful. St Augustine observes that anyone who wants to teach the
word of God “tries as far as possible to make his words understandable, pleasing
and persuasive. But he should be convinced that if he is to obtain a good result
it will be due more to the piety of his prayers than to his gifts of speech. And so,
praying for those he is to address, he should be more a supplicant than a spea-
ker. When the time comes for him to speak, before actually doing so he should
raise his parched soul to God that he may utter only what he has himself eaten
and drunk” (”Christian Instruction”, 4, 15).

The Apostle asks God to make the Thessalonians “worthy of his call”, that their
efforts should have the support of divine grace, for no supernatural action can be
planned, begun or brought to a conclusion without the grace of God (cf. Boniface
II, “Per filium nostrum, Dz-Sch”, 399). Hence the liturgical prayer: “Lord, be the
beginning and end of all that we do and say. Prompt our actions with your grace,
and complete them with your all-powerful help” (”Liturgy of the Hours”, morning
prayer, Monday Week 1).

12. The Greek formula here translated as “according to the grace of our God and
the Lord Jesus Christ” could also be interpreted as “according to the grace of our
God and Lord Jesus Christ” â€“ in which case we would have here a confession of
Christological faith which would be of enormous value on account of its antiquity.
It would be an acknowledgment of Christ being both God (Theos) and Lord (Ky-
rios), that is, Jesus Christus, Dominus et Deus noster. However, the expression
“our God” often appears in Pauline writings (cf., in this very chapter, vv. 2 and 11);
he also frequently uses the formula “Lord Jesus Christ”. This suggests that there
is a distinction between “our God” and “the Lord Jesus Christ” (or even “our Lord
Jesus Christ”); hence the preferred translation.

1-2. The main theme of the letter is given here â€“ the timing of the second coming
of the Lord. Some people had been unsettling the minds of the Thessalonians by
saying that the Parousia was about to happen.

The phrase “by spirit” is a reference to people claiming to have a charismatic
gift of prophecy from the Holy Spirit who were spreading their own ideas as if they
came from God. Others preferred to pass off what they had to say as coming from
St Paul (orally or in writing).

Those who try to mislead the people of God by teachings contrary to Christian
faith often use methods of the same sort. By twisting the meaning of Sacred
Scripture (cf. Mt 4:6) they not infrequently promote wrong teaching as if it were
a revelation from the Holy Spirit. The Second Vatican Council has reminded us
how to identify subjective interpretation of that kind: “The task of giving an au-
thentic interpretation, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has
been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority is
exercised in the name of Jesus Christ” (”Dei Verbum”, 10).

Even in our own day there are sects and impressionable people who put a lot of
effort into working out when the second coming will take place, sometimes ma-
king specific predictions which the passage of time disproves. They are missing
the main point, which is that we should be always on the watch, always ready
joyfully to meet the Lord.

“To the effect that the day of the Lord has come”: this is literally what the Greek
says â€“ or “as if the day of the Lord is here”, in the sense of “about to come any
minute now”. The New Vulgate [and the Navarre Spanish: trs.] translate it as “as
if the day of the Lord were imminent”, which is faithful to the tenor of the text and
reads more clearly.

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