Texts taken from the “Sulla Tua Parola” Missal September-October 2024

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
2nd week of the Psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of Numbers (Nm 11:25-29)
In those days, the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses: he took some of the spirit that was upon him and placed it upon the seventy elders; when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again. However, two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit rested upon them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent. They began to prophesy in the camp. A young man ran to announce it to Moses and said: “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua, son of Nun, Moses’ servant since his youth, spoke up and said: “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses said to him: “Are you jealous on my account? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets, and that the Lord might place his spirit upon them!” - The word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

Joshua was not entirely wrong: the two who were not among the seventy appointed men did not have the “license” to exercise prophecy. He did not know that the Spirit had also rested upon them, and he asked Moses to maintain order; otherwise, everyone would have begun prophesying, creating confusion among the people. Moses states an interesting principle: God gives the spirit of prophecy to whomever he wishes. In fields irrigated by channels built by people, water arrives regularly and the farmer is at ease, but there is also rain, and when it rains all the fields are irrigated, including the thorn bushes in the forests. This means that we must listen to everyone, because the Spirit may manifest itself in the words of people from whom we would not expect to hear his voice. We must be humble and, with discernment, accept the truth wherever it comes to us.

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint James the Apostle (Jas 5:1-6)
Now to you rich people: weep and howl over the disasters that are coming upon you! Your riches have rotted, your clothes have been eaten by moths. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will testify against you and devour your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days! Look, the wages of the workers who harvested your fields, which you failed to pay, cry out, and the protests of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure, and you have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the righteous person, and he did not resist you. - The word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

The image Saint James gives us is powerful. In itself, it is not true that riches are rotten (if I own ten palaces in Milan and five brand-new Ferraris in the garage, are these things perhaps rotten?), nor is it true that clothes are eaten by moths (I can protect them with mothballs), and it is not true that gold, assuming we have it in bars, is corroded by rust. What, then, is the apostle suggesting? He tells us that these human riches are insubstantial and, if they decay and crumble in our hands, we cannot entrust our lives to them. This is simply the truth, because, if nothing else, we will die and leave all these possessions on earth; they will not serve as credentials for entering the kingdom of God. Therefore, they will be consumed and vanish. Let us realize this. The teaching is then completed by the words of the Gospel, which teach us the proper use of riches: we may have many possessions, but they must serve us in charity toward those in need and in storing up “treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys” (Mt 6:20).

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48)
At that time, John said to Jesus: “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said: “Do not stop him, because no one who performs a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will surely not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life with one hand than, having two hands, to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life with one foot than, having two feet, to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be thrown into Gehenna, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” - The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Christian life has a radical nature, and that is precisely what is beautiful about it. One cannot remain in the middle: gray is not a biblical color. There is black and white. Today’s Gospel brings together three sayings of the Lord: the use of Jesus’ name, charity toward the little ones, and scandal. We must tear down and build up: remove perverse roots from within us while devoting ourselves to fraternal charity and carrying out God’s works, including miracles, with simplicity of heart. Nothing is simpler than Christianity, but we must live it fully. God is love, and the color of love has no shades; it is living fire that burns and consumes, a life wholly spent in goodness, like that of Jesus, the Madonna, and the saints. We must not be frightened or hold back, because God accomplishes everything in us. The saints were no different from us; they too confessed their imperfections, but they loved Jesus more than we do and believed in him without hesitation. Christian life demands heroism, but above all faith: we are incapable of doing anything, but we say, with Saint Paul: “I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13). God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of courage in the Holy Spirit.