September 16, 2026
Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop,
Martyrs
Lectionary: 445
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be
his own.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life,
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091626.cfm
Commentary on 1
Corinthians 12:31—13:13
In today’s First Reading, we have likely one of the most
quoted passages from Paul—if not from the whole Bible. We have seen Paul
speaking to the Corinthian Christians about the various gifts of the Spirit
with which different people are endowed so that they can better serve the needs
of the community in many different ways. He had been criticising them for
laying too much emphasis on and even desiring to have the more prestigious
gifts. Using the analogy of the human body he had said that the overall unity
of the community was more important than any one gift, just as the unity of the
body depended on its having a full complement of limbs and organs for it to
function properly.
However, today he goes further and says that, above and
beyond any gifts or ‘charisms’, there is “a still more excellent way”. That way
is the over-riding element of love. Love is not on the same level as the other
gifts. Rather, it is one of the most evident signs of the presence of the
Spirit of Christ in the community and its members.
‘Love’ here, as in many parts of the New Testament,
translates the Greek word agape, a word with a very specific
meaning. The word ‘love’ can mean many things and CS Lewis has written a book
called The Four Loves, each one of which can be found in the Scriptures.
Let us just briefly focus on three of these: eros, philia and agape.
Eros describes physical, sensual love, the love
of lovers sharing physical intimacies with each other. At its best, it is a
genuine and very beautiful form of love which involves the total giving of two
people to each through their bodies. Paul is not talking about this.
Philia is really the highest form of love. It is
the love of friendship, where friendship implies a total mutuality and sharing
between two people in a mutual self-giving to each other. It is the love of
lovers at its best, the love of the happily married couple, and of friends who
are deeply committed to each other. Sex may or may not be part of it. It
implies an enduring relationship which may not be present in an eros situation.
Again, Paul is not talking about this type of love in today’s reading.
Agape is reaching out to another person with a
deep desire for that person’s total well-being and wholeness. It is the love of
compassion and caring. It differs from philia in that it does
not expect a return (though that may be given); it is a totally unconditional
form of loving. It is the love that God extends to all creatures whether they
return that love or not. In the First Letter of John we are told that God IS (agape)
love (1 John 4:8). It is a constituent of his very being. Agape is
a form of love which desires the good of the other quite independently of that
person’s ‘lovable-ness’. It is the love that God extends equally to every
single person, irrespective of who they are or how they respond. So it is a
love that can be extended even to enemies, criminals and those who want to
destroy us. It is the love that Jesus showed for those who who nailed him to
the cross. It is the love that Paul is speaking about here. It is a love which
desires the good of the other, and hence is then especially offered to those
who lack it most.
Parenthetically, it is important to also add that a person
cannot survive only on agape, the giving form of love. No one can
remain permanently in a totally altruistic mode. At bottom whatever we do must
ultimately be for our own good and well-being. What we really need for our
wholeness is a true philia relationship. It is interesting how
Jesus asked Peter the three questions after the resurrection. Each one is
translated:
Simon son of John, do you love me? (John
21:15-17)
But in these verses, Jesus used the verbs for both agape and philia.
As well, it may not be possible to show a great deal of agape unless
we have a philia experience as part of our lives. We can live
without eros, but when joined with philia, eros adds
what we might call an incarnated dimension to our lives, although eros is
also the form of love most abused.
Paul speaks of the supremacy of agape over
everything else we do or achieve. If our actions are not motivated by an agape love,
then they are of no real value as far as our Christian life is concerned. Using
hyperbolic language, Paul gives four exaggerated examples of some of the gifts
to be found in the community:
- eloquence,
even to the point of being able to speak not only every earthly language,
but the language of angels;
- prophecy
(in the sense we described it yesterday), the ability to understand all
mysteries and “knowing everything” that can be known;
- faith,
strong enough to move mountains (as Jesus said true faith could do);
- generosity,
which would give away everything one has, even to offering one’s body in
martyrdom.
To have any of these gifts in the highest degree could make
one a prominent and highly respected person in the community. But if, at
bottom, these things are not motivated by genuine agape, they are
rated as nothing.
Speaking both positively and negatively, Paul now lists some
of the qualities of this kind of agape-love:
- It
is patient and kind. (These virtues were apparently not very conspicuous
in the Corinthian community.)
- It
is never jealous. (Jealousy seems to be present in those Corinthians who
were more ambitious for certain charisms than satisfied with what they
had.)
- It
is never boastful or conceited. (Paul accuses the Corinthians of a certain
arrogance which their overall moral behaviour in no way justifies.)
- It
is never rude or selfish. (Paul mentions the divisive factions and also
the selfish behaviour of some when celebrating the Lord’s Supper.)
- It
does not take offence and is not resentful. (True agape is
totally focused on the needs of the other and is not upset by hostility or
rejection. Such inner resentment is a sign of an insecurity in oneself.
People who love with true agape-love cannot be offended
because they are people who totally accept themselves as they are.)
- It
takes no pleasure in other’s sins, but delights in the truth. (The
reaction to the weaknesses of others is neither delight nor judgement, but
rather compassion. True love also is never afraid of the truth, but always
wants to see it come to the surface. At the same time, the truly loving
person will always speak the truth in love, being sensitive to the
weaknesses of those for whom the truth can be very painful. One can speak
the truth in a very unloving way.)
- It
is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever
comes. (True love always wants to find the good in everyone. It is biased
towards believing that people act in good faith. In spite of outward circumstances,
it never loses the certain hope that the truth and the good must
ultimately prevail. It is ready in the worst of times to hang in there and
to believe in the ultimate goodness of people.)
Love alone, says Paul, outlasts everything else because love
is part of God’s very nature; God is love. Loving is not just something God
practises—it is a part of his very essence.
On the other hand, many of the church’s most highly prized
gifts will eventually pass away. Paul mentions prophecy—there will come a time
when it is no longer needed. The gift of speaking languages will not be part of
the life to come. Knowledge, however wide, will eventually be shown to be
inadequate when we come face to face with the Infinite Source of all knowledge
and wisdom:
…when the complete comes, the partial will come to an
end.
‘Complete’ is one translation of the Greek word pleroma,
which means ‘fulfilment’, ‘perfection’, ‘maturity’. That ‘completeness’ will be
realised when Christ comes at the end to bring all creation to himself to share
in his glory.
Right now, says Paul, we are like children, talking like
children, acting and arguing like children. We think we are adults, but it is
not really the case. We are like a man looking at his reflection in one of
those polished metal mirrors of those days. The image can be seen, but is
somewhat blurred. But then, when the Lord comes, we will have the extraordinary
experience of seeing God clearly face to face. Though now:
I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have
been fully known.
That is, I will know the Lord to the fullest extent possible
for a human creature, analogous to the unlimited way in which God knows me.
And so, Paul sums up by saying that in the end only three
things will perdure: faith, hope and agape-love. We will not need
faith when we are face to face with our infinite Creator. We will not need hope
because every possible desire of our being will be fulfilled forever. But agape will
remain. Face to face with God, we will be eternally bathed in that agape which
pours from him and fills us with the happiness for which we were created.
Commentary on Luke
7:31-35
Today’s passage follows immediately after the scene (not in
our Mass readings) where Jesus answers the query from John the Baptist, now
languishing in prison, about whether Jesus is truly the Messiah. Jesus uses the
occasion to speak words of high praise for John:
I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater
than John, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (Luke
7:28)
Jesus now criticises the cynicism and self-contradictory
attitudes of those who reject both him and John. They have simply closed their
ears and want to hear nothing and learn nothing. He compares them to children
in a city square calling to their playmates:
We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we
wailed, and you did not weep.
This comparison Jesus applies to John the Baptist and
himself. John led an austere life in the desert eating, as we are told
elsewhere, only locusts and wild honey. They said he was mad and rejected him.
Jesus came leading a highly convivial life, mixing with all kinds of people.
They called him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and other
sinful people. He even invited a tax collector to be one of his twelve
Apostles!
It was a no-win situation. When people are like that there
is really nothing that can be done. Jesus concludes with the enigmatic
statement:
…wisdom is vindicated by all her children.
Both John and Jesus could be described as children of Wisdom,
whose origin is God himself. Those who can see the hand of God in the lives of
John and Jesus are also children of Wisdom. Those who adamantly refuse to see
God are not.
It is important for us not to fall into such a trap. God
speaks to us in so many ways and through so many people and situations. It is
very easy to find ourselves excluding, a priori, the people or situations by
which God is trying to reach us.
We cannot expect God to speak to us only in ways which we
find congenial. He may speak to us through a saint or a sinner, through a
conservative or a liberal, through a straight or gay person, or through a man
or a woman or a young child. Perhaps he speaks through an old person or a young
person, or through an educated or an illiterate person, or through someone we
know or someone we don’t. We have at all times to be ready to listen with an
unprejudiced mind and heart.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Wednesday, September
16, 2026
Opening Prayer
Almighty God,
our creator and guide, may we
serve You with all our hearts and know Your forgiveness in our lives.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives
and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 7: 31-35
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the people
of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the
marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did
not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist came
neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a
demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a
glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is
vindicated by all her children.”
Reflection
In today’s Gospel we see the originality of the Good News
which opens the way for people who are attached to ancient forms of faith who
feel lost and do not understand anything more of God’s action. In order to hide
their lack of openness and of understanding they defend and seek childish
pretexts to justify their attitude of lack of acceptance. Jesus reacts with a
parable to denounce the confusion of His enemies: “You are similar to children
who do not know what they want.”
•
Luke 7: 31: To
whom, then, shall I compare you? Jesus is struck by the reaction of the
people and say: “What comparison, then, can I find for the people of this
generation? What are they like?” When something is evident and the persons, out
of ignorance or because of bad will, do not perceive things and do not want to
perceive them, it is good to find an evident comparison which will reveal their
incoherence and the ill will. And Jesus is a Master in finding comparisons
which speak for themselves.
•
Luke 7: 32: Like
children without judgment. The comparison which Jesus finds is this one.
You are like “those children, shouting to one another while they sit in the
marketplace: we played the pipes for you, and you would not dance; we sang
dirges and you would not cry!” Spoiled children, all over the world, have the
same reaction. They complain when others do not do and act as they say. The
reason for Jesus’ complaint is the arbitrary way with which people in the past
reacted before John the Baptist and how they react now before Jesus.
•
Luke 7: 33-34: Their opinion on John and on Jesus. “For John the Baptist has come,
not eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say: he is possessed. The Son of
man has come eating and drinking, and you say: look, a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus was a disciple of John the
Baptist; He believed in him and was baptized by him. When He was baptized in
the Jordan, He had the revelation of the Father regarding His mission as
Messiah-Servant (Mk 1: 10). At the same time, Jesus stressed the difference
between Him and John. John was more severe, more ascetical, did not eat nor
drink. He remained in the desert and threatened the people with the punishment
of the Last Judgment (Lk 3: 7-9). Because of this, people said that he was
possessed. Jesus was more welcoming; He ate and drank like everybody else. He
went through the towns and entered the houses of the people; He accepted the
tax collectors and the prostitutes. This is why they said that He was a glutton
and a drunkard. Even considering His words regarding “the men of this
generation” (Lk 7: 31), in a general way, probably, Jesus had in mind the
opinion of the religious authority who did not believe in Jesus (Mk 11: 29-33).
•
Luke 7: 35: The
obvious conclusion to which Jesus arrives. And Jesus ends drawing this
conclusion: “Yet, wisdom is justified by all her children.” The lack of
seriousness and of coherence is clearly seen in the opinion given on Jesus and
on John. The bad will is so evident that it needs no proof. That recalls the
response of Job to his friends who believe that they are wise: “Will no one
teach you to be quiet! - the only wisdom that becomes you!” (Job 13: 5).
Personal Questions
•
When I express my opinion on others, am I like
the Pharisees and the scribes who gave their opinion on Jesus and John? They
expressed only their preconceptions and said nothing on the persons whom they
judged.
•
Do you know any groups in the Church who would
merit the parable of Jesus?
Concluding Prayer
How blessed the nation whose God
is Yahweh, the people He has chosen as His heritage.
From heaven Yahweh looks down, He sees all the children of
Adam. (Ps 33: 12-13).
Saints Cornelius, Pope and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
Nothing certain is known of Cornelius’ early life. After
Rome had been without a bishop for about a year because of the persecution of
the Emperor Decius, Cornelius, a member of the Cornelia family, was elected
Bishop of Rome in 251 by the clergy and people. The principal difficulty he had
to face was not persecution, but divisions in the Christian community arising
out of the reconciling of those who had lapsed by, for instance, denying their
faith. A priest, Novatian, was against the bishop’s policy of forgiveness. He
claimed that the Church had no power to pardon those who had lapsed during time
of persecution. The same applied to cases of murder, adultery and even in the
cases of those who had entered a second marriage (also seen as a form of
adultery). Novatian then set himself up as a rival pope.
However, Cornelius, with the strong support of Cyprian,
whose feast we also celebrate today, insisted that the Church did have the
power to forgive apostates and other sinners. And that they could be readmitted
to the Eucharistic table after having performed an appropriate period of
penance. Some letters of Cornelius to Cyprian, together with Cyprian’s replies,
have survived.
A synod of Western bishops in Rome in October of 251 upheld
Cornelius, condemned the teachings of Novatian, and excommunicated him and his
followers. When persecutions of the Christians started up again in 253 under
Emperor Gallus, Cornelius was exiled to Centum Cellae (Civitavecchia,
a coastal town, northwest of Rome), where he died a martyr probably of
hardships he was forced to endure. But Cyprian called him a martyr and later
accounts said that Cornelius had been beheaded. He was buried at Rome in the
crypt of Lucina, where his tomb can still be seen with the inscription Cornelius
Martyr. A painting of Cyprian was added to the wall of the crypt in the 8th
century.
Cyprian (Thasius Cecilianus Cyprianus) was born about
the year 200 at Carthage in North Africa. He was of a wealthy and distinguished
pagan background. He was either of Punic stock or, as is sometimes claimed, a
Berber. In fact, the site of his eventual martyrdom was his own villa.
He became an orator, a teacher of rhetoric, and an advocate
in the courts before being converted to Christianity about 245. After his
baptism, he gave away a portion of his wealth to the poor of Carthage, as
befitted a man of his rank. He gave up all pagan writing and devoted himself
exclusively to Scripture and Christian commentaries. He particularly liked
Tertullian, whom he regarded as his master. In the early days of his conversion
he wrote an Epistola ad Donatum de gratia Dei (Letter to
Donatus concerning God’s grace), and three books of Testimoniorum
adversus Judaeos that adhere closely to the models of Tertullian, who
influenced his style and thinking, and are largely interesting as documents
about the history of antisemitism.
A few years after his conversion he was ordained priest, and
in 248 was proclaimed Bishop of Carthage by the clergy, the people and with the
agreement of neighbouring bishops. However, a small number of people refused to
recognise the appointment. And very soon he was facing the persecution of the
Emperor Decius. He took refuge in a safer place, but kept in contact with his
flock by letter. During the persecution, a number of Christians renounced their
faith by sacrificing to idols or bought certificates which falsely claimed they
had made the sacrifices.
After a suitable period of penance, Cyprian reconciled these
apostates. One of his priests, Novatus, accepted them back without imposing any
penance. However, as we saw with Cornelius, Novatian the anti-pope, denied that
the Church had the right to absolve them. Cyprian, for his part, insisted on
quiet compassion, on the unity of the Church and the need for obedience and
loyalty on the part of all. In 251, his policy towards the lapsed was approved
by the Council of Carthage.
Another controversial issue was the validity of baptism
performed by people not in union with the pope, by heretics and apostates.
Contradicting the opinion of Pope Stephen II, Cyprian was against the validity
of these baptisms and in this was supported by other North African bishops. The
issue was resolved only after the death of Stephen and Cyprian by the Church’s
acceptance of the Roman tradition in favour of the validity of such baptisms.
At the end of 256, a new persecution of the Christians under
the emperor Valerian broke out, and both Pope Stephen and his successor, Sixtus
II, were martyred in Rome. In Africa, Cyprian courageously prepared his people
for the expected edict of persecution by his De exhortatione martyrii.
He himself was brought before the Roman proconsul Aspasius Paternus on 30
August, 257. He refused to sacrifice to the pagan deities and firmly professed
Christ. The consul banished him to remote Churubis. From here he comforted as
best he could his flock and exiled clergy. In a vision he saw his approaching
fate. After a year he was recalled, but kept a prisoner in his own villa. A new
and more stringent imperial edict demanded the execution of all Christian
clerics.
On 13 September, 258, Cyprian was imprisoned by orders of a
new proconsul, Galerius Maximus. On the following day he was examined for the
last time and sentenced to die by the sword. His only answer was “Thanks be to
God!” The execution was carried out at once in an open place near the city. A
large crowd followed Cyprian on his last journey. He took off his garments
without assistance, knelt down, and prayed. After he blindfolded himself, he
was beheaded.
The body was interred by Christians near the place of
execution, and over both his tomb and place of execution, churches were
erected. They were later destroyed by the Vandals. Charlemagne is said to have
had the bones transferred to France and Lyons, Arles, Venice, Compiègne, and
Roenay in Flanders all boast possession of the martyr’s relics.
Contemporary writings indicate a devoted and pastoral bishop
who was deeply respected. His thoughts are best revealed in his writings. Among
the most important are his De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate (On
the Unity of the Universal Church), De Lapsis (On the
Apostates), De Habitu Virginum (On the Dress of Virgins) as
well as sermons and letters.
Cornelius and Cyprian are linked together in the Catholic
liturgy and are mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/f0916s/
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