Daily Readings September 10, 2012

Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 437

Reading 1 from the First letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians
1 Cor 5:1-8

Brothers and sisters:
It is widely reported that there is immorality among you,
and immorality of a kind not found even among pagans?
a man living with his father's wife.

This man is obviously not simply living which his father's wife, but is having incestuous relations.  According to the Law of Moses, these two would be put to death.  

Leviticus 20:11
King James Version (KJV)
¹¹ And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

And you are inflated with pride.

That is a strange comment.  If it is true that these people were proud of this pair, then this community was perverted.

Should you not rather have been sorrowful?

Of course!

The one who did this deed should be expelled from your midst.

Strangely, he is speaking in the singular.  Initially, he also isolated "a man" living with his father's wife. Perhaps the woman was coerced into this relationship somehow.

I, for my part, although absent in body but present in spirit,
have already, as if present,
pronounced judgment on the one who has committed this deed,
in the name of our Lord Jesus:

This is the authority of the Church.  Protestants object that the Church has no right to pronounce anathemas.  But here, is a living example of the Church pronouncing an anathema upon a man who is committing a heinous sin.

Note how St. Paul did not have to address the man directly.  Whether anyone informs the man at all, this anathema is in effect.  In fact, I would venture to say that even if St. Paul had not mentioned it in this letter, God had already pronounced the anathema upon the man.  Because the man was living in sin.

when you have gathered together and I am with you in spirit
with the power of the Lord Jesus,

Again, pay attention to the power of the Church.  It is when we are united to the Church and the Pope, that we have the power of Our Lord Jesus.

Matthew 18:17-20
King James Version (KJV)
¹⁷ And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.¹⁸ Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.¹⁹ Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.²⁰ For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Apart from the Church, we are nothing. 

you are to deliver this man to Satan
for the destruction of his flesh,
so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

Again, the purpose of anathemas and all Church disciplines is to lead the sinner to repentance and final salvation of the soul.

Your boasting is not appropriate.

Again, the boasting.  Could these people have literally been bragging about this situation?  Ugh!

Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?
Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough,
inasmuch as you are unleavened.
For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate the feast,
not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So, he tells them to examine themselves and repent of their sins.  That they may become one with Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  

If you want to know the end of the story, read 2 Cor  7.  That expresses how the Corinthians responded to this letter.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 5:5-6, 7, 12

Response. (9) Lead me in your justice, Lord.

For you, O God, delight not in wickedness;
no evil man remains with you;
the arrogant may not stand in your sight.
You hate all evildoers.

R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.

You destroy all who speak falsehood;
The bloodthirsty and the deceitful
the LORD abhors.

R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.

But let all who take refuge in you
be glad and exult forever.
Protect them, that you may be the joy
of those who love your name.

R. Lead me in your justice, Lord.


Throughout Scripture, we are taught that God hates the wicked:

Psalm 11:5
King James Version (KJV)
⁵ The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

But the Lord loves the just:

Psalm 11:7
King James Version (KJV)
⁷ For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

Those of us who love God, ought to imitate Him in this respect:

Psalm 97:10
King James Version (KJV)
¹⁰ Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Gospel
Lk 6:6-11

On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught,
and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

Well did Christ speak of the hyporcrisy of the Pharisees, who could not see that there is no law against love.  

But he realized their intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
"Come up and stand before us."
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
"I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?"

So Jesus confronted them with that pointed question, "Is it lawful to do good during the Sabbath....?"  Note the irony of the question which Jesus asked.  He added, "rather than evil?"  Why?  Because the Pharisees were not above doing evil on the Sabbath.  

Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
"Stretch out your hand."
He did so and his hand was restored.
But they became enraged
and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

And giving evidence that their father was Satan, they beceame enraged when Jesus cured the man with the withered hand, on the Sabbath.  

Mark 2:27
King James Version (KJV)
²⁷ And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

Sincerely,

De Maria