Homily: 10th Week of Ordinary Time - Monday - Fourth Corinthians?

Today’s Gospel is one of the most famous passages of the New Testament, if not the entire bible—the beatitudes.  Yet, I’d like to focus on the first reading, from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, because we’ll be reading second Corinthians for the next two weeks. 

We know Paul recognized many problems in the Christian community at Corinth.  They were pretty dysfunctional and were engaging in a number of practices which were totally incongruent with the Christian life. 

Paul founded the church at Corinth around 50 AD, spending about 18 months there establishing a community of believers consisting of both Gentiles and converts from Judaism.  It’s thought that Paul actually wrote four letters to the community and Corinth.  Because in his first letter he makes reference to an earlier correspondence in which he urges them not to associate with immoral people.  So first Corinthians is actually his second letter, and second Corinthians, is actually fourth Corinthians.  Between his second and third letter, Paul made an emergency visit to Corinth to settle disputes and to confront a member of the community who was slandering him. 

Second Corinthians was written as a sort of prelude to his third and final visit to Corinth.  It seems that after his second visit, there was some real reconciliation within the community, and so this letter is to express his joy that the Gospel was finally beginning to take real root in the hearts of the Christians there. 

So this letter is going to be filled with much encouragement, but will also deal with some enduring pastoral problems.

We heard the very opening of the letter today: Paul addresses the community as the Church of God that is in Corinth—reminding the Corinthians of their divine origin—they owe their existence to God, and challenging them to realize that they belong to something much larger than themselves. 

They have been called out of darkness into light, they have been called out of worldly ways into the communion of the Church, they are being called out of former ways to live according to the new way of Jesus Christ, a calling that is a continuous journey. 

As it was for the Corinthians, so it was for us.  A community, a parish, a diocese is never a completed project.  Yes we’ve been sanctified, and made members of the Church, but Christians are called to continue grow in holiness, to be open to the many ways which God’s spirit works to draw us deeper and deeper into communion with God and one another.

And when we are faithful and open we can become the holy ones God made us to be, for his glory and the salvation of souls.