Thursday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time

Today the Church celebrates : St. Narcissus, Bishop (2nd century)

See commentary below or click here
Saint Jerome : « The Jerusalem above is freeborn, and she is our mother» (Gal 4,26)

Letter to the Romans 8:31-39.

What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ (Jesus) who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalms 109(108):21-22.26-27.30-31.

But you, LORD, my God, deal kindly with me for your name’s sake; in your great mercy rescue me.
For I am sorely in need; my heart is pierced within me.
Help me, LORD, my God; save me in your kindness.
Make them know this is your hand, that you, LORD, have acted.
I will give fervent thanks to the LORD; before all I will praise my God.
For God stands at the right hand of the poor to defend them against unjust accusers.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 13:31-35.

At that time some Pharisees came to him and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned. (But) I tell you, you will not see me until (the time comes when) you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day :

Saint Jerome (347-420), priest, translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church
Letter 58, 2-4 ; PL 22, 580-582

« The Jerusalem above is freeborn, and she is our mother» (Gal 4,26)

What we should congratulate ourselves about is not our having been to Jerusalem but our having lived uprightly there. The city we should be seeking is not the one that killed the prophets and shed the blood of Christ but the one made glad by the torrents of its river; the one that, built on a hilltop, cannot be hidden; that the apostle Paul declares to be the mother of the saints and in which he rejoices to dwell with the righteous (Ps 46[45], 5; Mt 5,14; Gal 4,26)… I should not dream of restricting God’s almighty power to a single region or confine within a tiny parcel of land him whom heaven itself cannot contain. Believers are valued according to the merits of their faith and not the place they live in. And God’s true worshippers have no need of Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim to worship the Father because «God is spirit» and his worshippers should «worship him in spirit and truth» (Jn 4,21-23). Now, «the Spirit breathes where he will» (Jn 3,8) and «the Lord’s is the earth and its fullness» (Ps 24[23],1)…

The holy places of the cross and resurrection are only of use to those who carry their cross, rise with Christ daily and prove themselves worthy of living in such localities. As for those who say: «The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord» (Jer 3,8), let them listen to the apostle’s words: «Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells within you?» (1Cor 3,16)…

So don’t think that your faith lacks something if you have not seen Jerusalem nor think me to be the better for living there. But whether here or elsewhere, you will receive your reward equally according to your works in God’s sight.