Homily
for Thursday
21st
Week of Ordinary Time
Aug.
26, 2020
Year
I: 1 Thess 3: 7-13
Christian
Brothers, St. Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle, N.Y.
“What thanksgiving
can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before
our God?” (1 Thess 3: 9).
Paul poses that as
a rhetorical questions, but it’s really an expression of his happy affection
for his converts in Thessalonica. In them
he finds comfort “in every distress and affliction” (3:7), as we also do when
we think of our brothers and friends who support us and pray for us.
Paul continues by
informing his friends of his longing to see them again, just as we might. He was separated by distance and his mode of
transportation, viz., walking. Tho we
have must faster ways to travel, we might be separated from our loved ones by
pandemic.
But prayer unites Paul to the Thessalonians, as prayer unites many people with us. It’s such a powerful expression of affection. Like Paul, we may pray that “the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all” (3:12). What a great service that is for the whole Church and particularly for our families, benefactors, and confreres. And what comfort and strength we derive from their prayers!
Thanks be to God!
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