2nd Reading for Sunday, Solemnity: The Most Holy Trinity

From: 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13

Epilogue

[11] Finally, brethren, farewell. Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. [12] Greet one another with a holy kiss. [13] All the saints greet you.
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Commentary:

11. In his words of farewell, the Apostle once more shows his great affection for the faithful of Corinth, exhorting them to practise the fraternity proper to Christians and thus live in concord and peace (cf. I Cor 1:10-17). And, St John Chrysostom comments, he tells them what this will lead to: "Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you, for God is a God of love and a God of peace, and in these he takes his delight. It is love that will give you peace and remove every evil from your church" ("Hom. on 2 Cor", 30).

St Paul's call to the faithful to be cheerful is particularly significant--"gaudete"(rejoice) in the New Vulgate--contains a message he repeats on other occasions: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice" (Phil 4:4; cf. 3:1). Joy is something very characteristic of Christians because their awareness of being children of God tells them that they are in the hands of God, who knows every- thing and can do everything (cf. note on 5:10). Therefore, we should never be sad; on the contrary: we should go out into the world, St. Escriva says, "to be sowers of peace and joy through everything we say and do" ("Christ Is Passing By", 168).

12. On the "holy kiss", see the note on 1 Cor 16:20.

"The saints" who send greetings to the Corinthians are the Christians of Macedonia, from where St Paul is writing. Regarding this description of Christians, see the note on 1 Cor 1:2.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.