Texts taken from the “On Your Word” missal January-February 2023
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
1st week of the Psalter
FIRST READING
From the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is 58:7-10)
Thus says the Lord: “Is this not the fast that I desire: to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the person you see naked, without neglecting your own relatives? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed. Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say: ‘Here I am!’ If you remove oppression from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious speech, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted, then your light shall shine in the darkness, and your gloom shall be like midday.” – The word of God.
Commentary on the first reading
Light enters the world through acts of charity. God is love, but it is also written that God is light (1 Jn 1:5). Therefore, when we love our neighbor, we open the door to light. In this passage, the prophet Isaiah resembles the evangelist John, who often speaks of darkness and light: whoever loves their brother lives in the light, while whoever hates remains in darkness. The reality in which we move seems divided in two: light on one side and darkness on the other; there is no neutral zone in between. Either here or there. We can decide which side to be on and, above all, we know the right path, which is to love our brothers and sisters in need. This irresistibly draws God into us. Holiness, then, means preferring God in our daily choices; it means allowing his radiance to shine within us and then devoting ourselves to concrete love of our neighbor. The life of a saint never follows criteria of human prudence; a saint is one who gives themselves completely because they know they are loved without limits by God, with an entirely personal love. Thus, being loved by the Lord and loving our neighbor become the same thing.
SECOND READING
From the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 2:1-5)
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you with eloquence of speech or wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching did not rest on persuasive words of wisdom but on a demonstration of Spirit and power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on the power of God. – The word of God.
Commentary on the second reading
Saint Paul is exceptionally well prepared and could, through the force of his arguments, defeat any opponent and make his doctrinal arguments prevail. He was educated in the school of the finest rabbis, knew the thought of the Greek philosophers, and knew Sacred Scripture by heart; today we would say that he was a university graduate, a professor. Compared with him, the fisherman Peter and the simple apostles of Galilee were far less highly regarded. Yet Paul renounces the use of his own gifts because he wants to base his knowledge on another wisdom: the wisdom of the cross. The humiliations he experienced during his apostolate helped make him humble, leading him to rely solely on divine grace and not on himself. For this very reason he can write: “I came to you in weakness” (1 Cor 2:3) and, in another passage: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). The theology of weakness, however, is not the theology of the weak. Our strength, in fact, is the power of the cross, which is enormously greater than any human wisdom, however highly developed. The argument of the cross is invincible because it possesses the terrible force of divine love.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 5:13-16)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket, but on a lampstand, so that it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” – The Gospel of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel of the day
Light makes things visible, and seeing them means being able to know them, because a person in the dark has no perception of what surrounds them. Salt gives flavor and preserves food for longer. Jesus asks his disciples to illuminate the setting of the place where they live with their inner light; it emerges and becomes visible through the beauty of their good works. We are not asked to do great things, to climb mountains, to go without sleep or food, or to wear ourselves out for God. We are asked to be light within so that we can illuminate what is outside. We are like lit light bulbs, and through our lives, those close to us can also see reality as it truly is and understand that we human beings have come into the world to know God, love him, and love one another. Salt also saves from corruption, which is why, in addition to being light, we are also, with the firmness of sound and certain doctrine, men and women who preserve the world from total ruin. Notice the cascade that spreads from its source across the world: first it is said that God is light (1 Jn 1:5), then Jesus says of himself that he is light (Jn 8:12), and finally he says to Christians: “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14).
