St. Sylvia

Monday of the Thirty-first week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Saint Gregory of Nazianzen : Imitating the generosity of God

Reading

Rm 11,29-36.
For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now disobeyed in order that, by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may (now) receive mercy. For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given him anything that he may be repaid?" For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Ps 69(68),30-31.33-34.36-37.
But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help protect me, God, That I may praise God's name in song and glorify it with thanksgiving. "See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, take heart! For the LORD hears the poor, does not spurn those in bondage. God will rescue Zion, rebuild the cities of Judah. God's servants shall dwell in the land and possess it; it shall be the heritage of their descendants; those who love God's name shall dwell there.

Lk 14,12-14.
Then he said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day

Saint Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
On love for the poor, 27-28; PG 35,891-894

Imitating the generosity of God

There is no way in which man is more like God than in his capacity to do good, and even if we are only able to do it to a wholly different degree, let us at least do all we can. God created man and raised him up after he had fallen so don’t you, on your part, despise anyone who has fallen into hard times. God, moved by man’s great distress, gave him the Law and the prophets, having already given him the unwritten law of nature. He took care to guide us, help us, correct us. Ultimately, he gave himself as a ransom for the life of the world… As for you, when you are sailing before the wind in the stern, hold out your hands to those who suffer shipwreck. When you enjoy good health and plenty, give help to the unfortunate. Don’t wait to learn to your own cost what an evil egoism is and how good it is to open your heart to those in need. Take care, because God’s hand chastises the presumptuous who forget about the poor. Learn your lesson from other people’s misfortunes and be lavish to the needy, even though it be with only the smallest forms of assistance. For him, who lacks everything, it won’t be valueless. Nor for God either, if you have done what you can. Let your haste to give supply for the insignificance of your gift. And if you have nothing, offer him your tears. Pity that springs from the heart is a great comfort to the unfortunate and a sincere compassion sweetens the bitterness of suffering.