Homily for Thursday
Week 21 of Ordinary Time
Aug.
31, 2023
1 Thess 3: 7-13
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle
“We
have been reassured about you, brothers, in our every distress and affliction,
thru your faith” (1 Thess 3: 7).
1 Thessalonians is believed to be the oldest extant New Testament writing. In it Paul gives thanks to God for the faith of the Church at Thessalonica, one of his 1st Christian communities on European soil, and he tries to reassure them in their faith and to bolster it.
At
the same time, he finds reassurance and comfort in their faith and perseverance
as he continues his efforts to preach the Gospel in Corinth.
Paul
is thus expressing a spiritual connection between the Thessalonians and himself
and his coworkers, Silvanus (or Silas) and Timothy. This is an expression of the communion of
saints, our communion with all Christian believers on earth. Paul loves them and prays for them, and he
finds life in their faithfulness (3:8).
So
do we support one another, brothers. Our
good example, our faithfulness, and our prayers uphold our brothers and sisters
in Christ; and their prayers, affection, and faithfulness uphold us. This is reassuring to us and to them. We find joy before God in one another in this
“blest communion, fellowship divine,” as we sing in the hymn “For All the
Saints”—fellowship not only with the saints already triumphant but also with
those still on the way.
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