Oct 19, 2026 Written by 
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30th Sunday in O.T.

30th Sunday in O.T.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(1 Thessalonians 1:5c–10)

 

5You know very well how we behaved amongst you for your own good.

6And you followed our example and that of the Lord, having received the Word amidst great trials, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 

7so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 

8Indeed, through you the word of the Lord has resounded not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has spread everywhere, so that we do not need to speak of it. 

9For they themselves tell how we came amongst you and how you turned from idols to God, to serve the living and true God 

10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath. 

------------------------- -------------------

 

‘You know very well how we behaved amongst you for your own good.’ The founding group of the Church in Thessalonica not only lived amongst them, but also went to great lengths on their behalf. An extraordinary endeavour. The preacher of the Gospel has but one aim: the total good of the other. The preacher of the Gospel loses himself in the Gospel; he is absorbed by the Gospel; he devotes his life to the Gospel; he surrenders his life to the Gospel—for in the preaching of the Gospel, what matters is the salvation of others, their supernatural good. Anyone who harbours even the slightest self-interest runs the risk of compromising their mission of evangelisation. There must be no confusion between the interests of God and the interests of the preacher of the Gospel, between the supreme good of the salvation of souls and the desires for some fulfilment in our own lives.

‘And you have followed our example and that of the Lord.’ Those who have received the Gospel in turn become active participants in its spread, through imitation and example. The first fruit of the Gospel preached and received is the imitation of the one who brings the Gospel and of the Lord. Imitation is not a mere repetition of deeds and words. It is living out, in the Spirit, the deeds and words of holiness that the other person lives out. If imitation is lacking, there is no true acceptance of the Gospel, of the word of preaching. If imitation is lacking, it means that the word has not truly entered our hearts. For when the word of preaching penetrates a heart, it brings about imitation, creates holiness, leads to obedience, produces fruits of truth in the heart, and generates works of true love. Imitation is the sign that we have been won over by the word. It is the sign that the word truly lives within us.

Indeed, it is said of the Thessalonians that they followed the example of the missionaries and of the Lord in that they ‘received the Word amidst great trials, with the joy of the Holy Spirit’. No one can receive the Word with the joy of the Holy Spirit unless the Word is filled with the Holy Spirit. This obliges the preacher of the Gospel to fill himself ever more with the Holy Spirit through a journey of obedience to Christ and his will. As he grows in obedience to Christ, in fulfilling his will, the Spirit of God takes possession of his heart and mind, and everything he does and says is filled with the Holy Spirit, because his heart is filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit ensures that the Word always remains in the heart. When trials come – as we know from the parable of the sower – the Word, if it is not well-rooted and firmly planted within us, slips away from us. With the Holy Spirit strong within us, nothing can cause us to abandon the Word. The Holy Spirit roots us in the word and roots the word in us, so that we and the word become one and the same reality. 

We become one with the word as we gradually transform it into our own life, bringing it to fulfilment and completion. The more we live by the word, the more we become one with the word. This, too, is the grace of the Holy Spirit.

By imitating the missionaries and the Lord, the Christians of Thessalonica have become a model for all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Greek word for ‘model’ is typos, which conveys the idea of a mould used to create a product or to mint coins. They are not merely an example, but a model for all Christian communities. Until the listener becomes a model for other believers, it is a sign that the word has not yet borne the fruit of life in their heart. Being an example is the true sign that the word has taken root in a heart.

Indeed, we have the image of a sound that ‘resounds’ (v. 8) and ‘spreads far and wide’. What resounds through believers is the word of the Lord (ho logos tou Kyriou), an expression used when the Lord spoke to Israel through the prophets. Our Italian word ‘catechesi’ derives from the Greek word for ‘resounds’ – exēchētai. Catechesis is nothing other than causing the Word of the Lord to resound, so that it may spread throughout the world. For catechesis to take place, one thing is essential: that only the Word of the Lord resounds. If other words, other thoughts, other concepts are added to the word of the Lord, it is no longer catechesis; it is merely a jumble, a mixture of sounds floating through the air. This multitude of sounds renders catechesis impure, and any impure catechesis is also in vain.

‘We have come amongst you.’ Here a very significant word is used to describe the coming of the preachers: the word éisodos (exodus). Just as the Exodus gave rise to Israel as a nation, so here the proclamation of God’s Gospel gave rise to the Christian community. The Word does not walk by itself; the Word is carried, preached, proclaimed and given. The Word does not exist in and of itself. There is the word of Christ. There is the word of the Apostles. There is the word of the individual preacher. Every word preached, spoken or proclaimed receives its power of truth and conversion from the Holy Spirit who is within the preacher; therefore, no two words are the same, for the power of the Holy Spirit within the heart of the one who bears the word is never the same. The Gospel itself is not simply ‘the Gospel’. It is the Gospel according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John. That is to say, it is the Gospel filled with the Spirit of Matthew, the Spirit of Mark, the Spirit of Luke, the Spirit of John.

The conversion of the Thessalonians is presented in two aspects (v. 9): 1) turning away from idols, 2) accepting God, which takes the form of a commitment to His service. As a general reflection, we might say that the Christian response to God’s initiative is called ‘conversion’, understood as that constant attitude of turning away from idols and adhering to the true God. In this endeavour, the individual is sustained by the action of the Holy Spirit (cf. v. 6). It must be added straight away, however, that conversion also encompasses something else. It is the beginning of a life of waiting. The Christian life becomes a liturgy in the ultimate expectation of Christ, ‘who delivers us from the wrath to come’.

We must pay close attention to these truths today. To reduce Christianity to a form of humanism, to a mere pursuit of well-being on this earth, is a betrayal of the truth of salvation. We must be very vigilant in this regard. Christians are the bearers of a new hope in the world, and this hope is the eternal kingdom that will be fulfilled for all those who have believed and made the word of Jesus the sole norm and rule of their existence on this earth.

 

 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an 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 Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

 

(Available on Amazon)

9 Last modified on Monday, 19 October 2026 12:00
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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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