“Science that inflates: the knowledge that boasts, the charity that builds, and the Mother of Mercy”

“Knowledge inflates, but love builds. […]. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.” (1Cor 8:1 and Lk 6:36)

Thursday of Week 23 of Ordinary Time places charity above knowledge and then shows to what extent that charity goes. Paul writes a phrase that should be inscribed on every theology faculty, “‘Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up’” (v.1), and draws from it a costly practical consequence. Luke conveys the heart of the Plain Sermon, the commandment to love enemies and the overflowing measure. Both readings declare that the Christian’s measure is not what he knows, but what he endures for another.

I. The first reading: 1Cor 8,1b-7.11-13

The problem in Corinth was concrete and daily. The meat sold in the market often came from temple sacrifices, and some well-formed believers, without hesitation, ate it, because they knew, “‘An idol is nothing in the world’” (v.4). They were right. Paul grants them the right in explicit form and then demolishes their argument.

The demolition is done in two times. First, the principle: “‘If anyone thinks that he knows anything, yet he does not know as he ought to know’” (v.2). There is a way of knowing that is, in itself, a mistake, because it separates knowledge from relationship. Then, the consequence: there are fragile-conscious brothers, newly freed from idolatry, for whom that gesture has another meaning, and “‘by your knowledge, the weak brother will perish, for whom Christ died’” (v.11). The weight of the phrase is at the end. The weak brother does not count for his theological understanding, he counts for the price paid for him. And Paul concludes with an unlimited time renunciation: “‘I will never again eat meat, lest I should give occasion for the enemy to blaspheme’” (v.13). He does not renounce the truth he defends. He renounces exercising his right to do so.

II. The gospel: Lk 6,27-38

The Plain Sermon reaches here its highest and most impractical point. “‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you’” (v.27-28). Four verbs that increase in intensity and do not describe feelings, but actions. No one is commanded to like his enemy. He is commanded to do good to him, to speak well of him, and to pray for him.

The argument that closes all exits follows. To love who loves us, to do good to who does good to us, to lend to whom lends to us, “‘even the tax collectors do the same’” (v.32-34). The Christian novelty is not in loving, but in loving where there is no expected return. And the foundation is not human heroism but God’s likeness: “‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’” (v.36). From there, the phrase that Luke puts where Matthew puts perfection: “‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’” (v.36).

The passage ends with an image taken from the grain market. The honest buyer filled the measure, shook it, and poured it back into his cloak until it overflowed.

“As you treat others, so in turn you will be treated” (v.38). It is not a threat, but the description of how a heart narrows or expands according to what it practices.

III. Knowing That Does Not Build

The convergence of the two readings is precise. Paul is right against the weak in Corinth and he renounces to exercise that right. Jesus commands to love those who give nothing in return. In both cases, the criterion shifts from what is due to what builds up the other.

This is of particular interest to those who study. A solid theological formation is a real good and the Church needs it, but it carries with it a specific temptation, that of transforming competence into superiority and superiority into impatience with the simpler faith of others. Paul does not ask for less knowledge. He asks that knowledge be governed by charity, which is the only thing that builds. That’s why, a few chapters ahead, he will dedicate the entire hymn of charity to say that without it, knowledge of mysteries is nothing (1 Cor 13:2).

IV. Mary, Mother of Mercy and Overflowing Measure

The mandate of Luke, “be merciful,” in the tradition of the Church has a concrete face, and the most prayed prayer in the West after the Our Father calls her by name. The Salve Regina greets Mary as Mater misericordiae, Mother of Mercy, and asks her to turn her merciful eyes upon us. The title is not sentimental. It says that the Father’s mercy took on a human, maternal form in her.

Mary was the first to sing this mercy as a law of history: “her mercy is stretched out from generation to generation upon those who fear her” (Lk 1:50). The Magnificat does not describe a feeling of God, it describes how God acts, toppling the powerful and lifting up the humble. Whoever sings thus has already understood what Luke will ask in his plain sermon, because they recognized that God’s measure is always greater than what man deserves.

And there is the overflowing measure. If there is a creature who can be said to have received the “measure pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing,” it is she who the angel greeted as full of grace (Lk 1:28). But the overflowing did not stay within her. As soon as she received it, she hurried to the mountain to serve Elizabeth for three months (Lk 1:39.56). The measure she received was the measure she used. The Council teaches that Mary’s motherhood in the order of grace continues uninterrupted until the perpetual consummation of all the elect, and for this reason the Church invokes her under the titles of advocate, helper, and mediator (LG 62).

Therefore, the Thursday of Week XXIII leaves a simple question for those who dedicate themselves to the study of faith. What we learn, has it built up someone, or has it only given us reason?

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