33rd Sunday in O.T. (year C)

(2 Thessalonians 3:7-12)

2 Thessalonians 3:7 For you know how you ought to imitate us, because we did not live idly among you,

2 Thessalonians 3:8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but we worked hard night and day, labouring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

2 Thessalonians 3:9 Not that we had no right to this, but to give you an example to imitate.

Paul says: remember our behaviour, that during our work among you, instead of shirking our duty to earn a living, we took on hard work so as not to be supported by the community. Paul, even before being a teacher, practises what he preaches. Every preacher must be able to combine theory and practice.

Conscience is educated not only through teaching, but above all through life, through example. Others must not only hear what is good and true, but they must also see what is good and true, because faith is either visible or it is not faith. Paul is not only a teacher who preaches, admonishes and teaches the faith, he is first and foremost someone who shows all these things and shows them through his life. He is both a teacher of life and a teacher of words. The two must always go together. It would be a serious spiritual loss if the two were to be separated.

Here, therefore, it is not a question of remembering a teaching, but of the duty to imitate the preachers of the gospel, who were not idlers. In other words, the preachers of the gospel did not take advantage of the hospitality of some Christians. Let us be clear, Paul is not saying that he never ate for free in other people's homes, but that he never demanded his sustenance.

Paul subjected himself to the harsh law of work for the sake of the gospel; he did not want to be mistaken for one of those itinerant preachers who moved from place to place selling theories, often only illusions, in exchange for sustenance. By supporting himself with his own hands, the apostle freed his message from any suspicion, and to do so he had renounced his right to be supported. This is the fairness of the apostle.

But there is also another reason why Paul worked: 'so as not to be a burden to any of you', a reason of charity. He did not want to cause difficulties for anyone, even if that anyone would have gladly done so.

Three principles are at stake here: the principle of justice, that of charity and that of evangelisation. The principle of justice says that every worker is entitled to his wages. Paul offers them the life of the soul; the Thessalonians offer him what he needs for the life of his body. This is justice: one thing for one thing, a gift for a gift, a service for a service.

But Paul does not want his relationship with the Thessalonians to be based on justice. For reasons of the gospel, he wants it to be based on charity instead. Charity is a one-way gift. Paul wants to give and that's it. He has decided to make his life a service of love. By proclaiming the gospel and living it in its deepest essence, he leaves the Thessalonians with the true model of how to live the gospel, how to proclaim it and how to put it into practice.

Now, if they want, they know what the Gospel is, they know it because they have seen it in Paul. Having seen it, they too can proclaim it and put it into practice. Paul decides to preach the Gospel freely because the Gospel is the free gift of God's love in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit.

In the painful decline of the Church today, there are those who hope for a rebirth from below. But the Church was born from the proclamation of the apostles. It is up to those in charge to shed light, bring clarity, and point out the paths to follow in accordance with the Gospel of Christ... but those in charge must also be supported and encouraged.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books

- Apocalypse - Exegetical Commentary

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

224 Last modified on Monday, 10 November 2025 20:48

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Argentino Quintavalle

Argentino Quintavalle è studioso biblico ed esperto in Protestantesimo e Giudaismo. Autore del libro “Apocalisse - commento esegetico” (disponibile su Amazon) e specializzato in catechesi per protestanti che desiderano tornare nella Chiesa Cattolica.

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Familiarity at the human level makes it difficult to go beyond this in order to be open to the divine dimension. That this son of a carpenter was the Son of God was hard for them to believe. Jesus actually takes as an example the experience of the prophets of Israel, who in their own homeland were an object of contempt, and identifies himself with them (Pope Benedict)

La familiarità sul piano umano rende difficile andare al di là e aprirsi alla dimensione divina. Che questo Figlio di un falegname sia Figlio di Dio è difficile crederlo per loro. Gesù stesso porta come esempio l’esperienza dei profeti d’Israele, che proprio nella loro patria erano stati oggetto di disprezzo, e si identifica con essi (Papa Benedetto)

These two episodes — a healing and a resurrection — share one core: faith. The message is clear, and it can be summed up in one question: do we believe that Jesus can heal us and can raise us from the dead? The entire Gospel is written in the light of this faith: Jesus is risen, He has conquered death, and by his victory we too will rise again. This faith, which for the first Christians was sure, can tarnish and become uncertain… (Pope Francis)

The ability to be amazed at things around us promotes religious experience and makes the encounter with the Lord more fruitful. On the contrary, the inability to marvel makes us indifferent and widens the gap between the journey of faith and daily life (Pope Francis)

La capacità di stupirsi delle cose che ci circondano favorisce l’esperienza religiosa e rende fecondo l’incontro con il Signore. Al contrario, l’incapacità di stupirci rende indifferenti e allarga le distanze tra il cammino di fede e la vita di ogni giorno (Papa Francesco)

An ancient hermit says: “The Beatitudes are gifts of God and we must say a great ‘thank you’ to him for them and for the rewards that derive from them, namely the Kingdom of God in the century to come and consolation here; the fullness of every good and mercy on God’s part … once we have become images of Christ on earth” (Peter of Damascus) [Pope Benedict]

Afferma un antico eremita: «Le Beatitudini sono doni di Dio, e dobbiamo rendergli grandi grazie per esse e per le ricompense che ne derivano, cioè il Regno dei Cieli nel secolo futuro, la consolazione qui, la pienezza di ogni bene e misericordia da parte di Dio … una volta che si sia divenuti immagine del Cristo sulla terra» (Pietro di Damasco) [Papa Benedetto]

And quite often we too, beaten by the trials of life, have cried out to the Lord: “Why do you remain silent and do nothing for me?”. Especially when it seems we are sinking, because love or the project in which we had laid great hopes disappears (Pope Francis)

E tante volte anche noi, assaliti dalle prove della vita, abbiamo gridato al Signore: “Perché resti in silenzio e non fai nulla per me?”. Soprattutto quando ci sembra di affondare, perché l’amore o il progetto nel quale avevamo riposto grandi speranze svanisce (Papa Francesco)

The Kingdom of God grows here on earth, in the history of humanity, by virtue of an initial sowing, that is, of a foundation, which comes from God, and of a mysterious work of God himself (John Paul II)

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