October 14, 2021, Thursday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 3:21-30
Ps 130
Lk 11:47-54
With his remarkably characteristic depth, St. Paul explains that God's justice is made manifest and that, through faith in Jesus, Jews and pagans are freely justified without any distinction. All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus. In fact,
God set forth [Christ Jesus] as an expiation, through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God – to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
All were in the condition of sinners, therefore,
What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works?
No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one.
As a responsorial psalm we once again encounter the De profundis, which we had already seen on October 5: it is a cry that rises from the depths of the soul, aware that its only hope to rise again from the abyss is the Lord’s forgiveness, in which we place all our trust:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered. I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
In the Gospel of today's celebration, Jesus' 'woe to you' continues against the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, who want to be saved and save the people in their own way: not by correctly interpreting God's way and putting it into practice, but by multiplying the rules and persecuting the true prophets:
The Lord said:
“Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets whom your fathers killed. Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. Therefore, the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute' in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”
Sadly, the end of the Gospel confirms the incorrigible hypocrisy of the religious class controlling the country, thus preventing the simple folk from finding the path to salvation. These hypocrites do not authentically seek God, but instead exalt themselves as they seek a way to get rid of Jesus just as their ancestors tried to eliminate the prophets:
When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.
Jesus will also say:
If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. (Jn 15:18-21).
Faith uniting everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike, is rendered comprehensible from the universal dimension of salvation in which Jesus is operative. Even more illuminating is that, by enduring our sufferings and persecutions, we all have the possibility of participating in this unifying salvation, offered without bias towards any ethnicity, or cultural affiliation.
Vietnamese Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuán, who has already been declared venerable thanks to the proven heroism of his virtues, is a great witness of this faith and its universal efficacy. As a Christian he is reached and redeemed by Christ’s grace which saves beyond the Law given to the Jews. Overcoming every legalistic reduction of the Law while suffering the persecutions inflicted on him, he was able, thanks to obedient love, to embrace the same cross of Jesus for salvation. It was for his personal salvation, for the salvation of the Christians of his Church in Saigon, and even the salvation of his persecutors. While he was bishop of Saigon, he was arrested by the Communists who had come to power, was convicted and remained in prison for 13 years. Appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, he became a cardinal in 2001. He died of a tumor in Rome at the age of 74, September 16, 2002.
From February 3-8, 2002, he had preached his last Spiritual Retreat for the Roman Curia, later published in a book with the title: “Testimony of Hope”. We offer here the second to last meditation of the retreat:
When I was in prison, I sometimes experienced moments of despair, of revolt, wondering why God had abandoned me since I had consecrated my life entirely to his service, to building churches, schools, pastoral structures, to guiding vocations, to following movements and spiritual experiences, to developing dialogue with other religions, to helping rebuild my country after the war, etc. I wondered why God had forgotten about me and all the works undertaken in his name. Often I couldn't sleep and was gripped by anguish.
One night I heard a voice inside me saying: “All those things are God’s works, but they are not God.” I had to choose God and not his works. Maybe one day, if God should had wanted it, I would have been able to take them up again, but I had to let him choose, which He would do better than me.
From that moment on, I felt a deep peace in my heart and, despite all the trials, I always repeated to myself: “God and not God’s works”. What matters is to live according to the Gospel, of the Gospel and for the Gospel alone, as Saint Paul said: “I do everything for the Gospel” (1 Cor 10:23).
We must live the fundamentals in everything, but above all in the missionary enthusiasm of our life as pastors, starting from the essentials. Having the fundamentals in your heart. When we have what’s essential inside of us, we no longer feel the need for anything. Also in our priestly life we must have the essentials within us, that is, God and his will. If you have God you have everything, if you don't have God in your heart, you lack everything.
For this reason, when I was in prison, every day before celebrating Holy Mass, I thought of the promises I had made at the time of my episcopal ordination. With them, I was committed to always having God, to keep the fundamentals in my life: Him and his will. The promises that were made at the moment of ordination, however, must be continually renewed because they are a program of holiness and, if we keep them, we are holy. Those promises challenge us every day. They ask us for a fidelity that is not the simple repetition of the past but the ever-renewed newness of our heart’s gift to God and the Church.
It is the acceptance of the grace of his spirit that rejuvenates our commitment and makes us witnesses of an experience, every day new, of Lord’s love.
This is what I mean when I speak of the need to always start afresh from the essentials: Everything is relative, everything passes. For this reason I wanted to write on my episcopal ring: “todo pasa” (Saint Teresa of Jesus, Let Nothing Disturb You). Only God remains and only He is enough. Let's never forget it. The essentials can only be lost with sin and, if we strive to be faithful, we will keep them in our hearts and this will give us the joy of starting every day anew with new energy and enthusiasm.
(François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuán, Testimony of Hope, translated from the Italian, Scoprite la gioia della speranza, Ed. ART, Roma 2002, pp. 79 ss.)