Homily
for Thursday
21st
Week of Ordinary Time
Aug.
25, 2022
1
Cor 1: 1-9
Christian
Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, New Rochelle
“Paul, called
to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, … to the Church of God that is in Corinth” (1
Cor 1: 1-2).
Many of you remember the bad old days of Times Square. In St. Paul’s time, Corinth was the Times Square of the Roman Empire.
After being
rebuffed, mostly, when he tried to preach our risen Lord Jesus in Athens, city
of philosophy and culture, Paul found an audience in Corinth. Acts tells us he stayed there a year and a
half (18:11), and he made many friends.
More important, as he writes in his salutation today, thru him Christ Jesus sanctified many, called them to be holy—which some translations render validly as “saints.”
The word
“church,” ekklesia
in Greek, means those called out, as for an assembly. That’s what the believers of Corinth are,
thru the grace of Jesus, and their calling is sanctification. That’s who we are, in this room and in our
respective religious congregations (and the parishes of our staff). In Christ, God has called us to be saints,
and his grace effects that in spite of our weaknesses and defects and even our
sins.
For this,
Paul gives thanks to God always (1:4)—and as the rest of his letter reveals, he
certainly was aware of the sins of his friends in Corinth. For this we also give thanks every day, thru
the Eucharist, our other prayers, and our efforts to walk with the Lord Jesus.
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