Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

“I have competed well; I have finished the race;f I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7.)

Saint Jerome offers the following insight on this verses from today’s First Reading:

“For I am of the opinion that no creature can be perfect according to true and consummate justice. Moreover, no one denies that one individual differs from another individual. I know that there are different measures of justice among men, that one individual is greater or lesser than another individual and that individuals who are not just in comparison with other individuals can still be called just according to their own standard and measure. The apostle Paul, the chosen vessel, who labored more abundantly than all of the apostles, was certainly just when he wrote to Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will give to me in that day; yet not to me only, but also to those who love his coming.” Timothy, who was his disciple and follower, who was guided by him in the way of life that he was to follow and the course he was to pursue in the acquisition of virtues, was also a just man. Are we to suppose for a moment that both of them possessed the one and the same measure of justice? Or that he who labored more abundantly than all of them does not have greater excellence?” (Against the Pelagians, 1.)

Collect

O God,
Whose providence never fails in its design,
keep from us, we humbly beseech You,
all that might harm us and
grant all that works for our good.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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