Word of the Week

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fight: Agon (Gk.): meaning, “a battle”, or generally, “any struggle or contest”. This term is tied to a contest for a prize won at the Greek national games. The word also conveys an action during a trial case.

The CCC highlights the call to battle for the cause of righteousness by first establishing the importance of grace in our life to be able to discern and detect “the wiles of the Tempter” (CCC, 2752, cf. 1859).  For this reason, “the battle of prayer is inseparable from the necessary ‘spiritual battle’ to act habitually according to the Spirit of Christ: we pray as we live, because we live as we pray” (2752). This calls for the banishment of capital sin from our human heart (cf. 2538) and the need to frequent the sacrament of Confession. If we are to ever overcome the deceit of the adversary, and any evil tendencies, we must seek out this sacrament of God’s mercy so as to “progress in the life of the Spirit” (1458). Once we have gained a life in the Spirit, we have gained awareness into detecting the trickery of Satan, which consequently sits at the heart of “fighting the good fight of faith” (1 Tim.6:12).

The term agon can be found six times in the New Testament, all of which are accredited to St. Paul. In the Great Apostle’s address on matters concerning ‘fighting the good fight of faith’, St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to press forward despite any and all “opposition” (1 Thes.2:2). He goes one to explain that this struggle in grace against the adversary is no sprint but a marathon where we are called to exercise “perseverance” (Heb.12:1). Herein lies the call to see every step of the race in light of the bigger picture. In addition to this call to have a kind of spiritual endurance, Paul also reminds us that to be engaged in the battle front is to suffer for the sake of the body of Christ (cf. Phil.1:29-30). In this way, we share in Christ’s redemptive work (cf. Phil.1:29, 3:10; 2 Cor. 1:5; Col.1:24; 1 Pet. 1:6-7). In other words, to acquire the attitude of Christ is to place the cross at the center of our daily lives. Lastly, in his epistles to Timothy, we read Paul looking upon his life as an offering and all but prophesying his own martyrdom when he speaks of his “departure” and putting into past tense “the race” to the finish line: “I have fought the good fight” (2 Tim.4:6-7); a phrase he used in his first epistle to Timothy urging him to respond fully to his confession of Faith in Christ Jesus (1 Tim.6:12) (Hahn and Minch, 393).

This Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time calls us to continue to reflect upon the question of money and poverty; a reoccurring motif of these past few Sundays. The biblical account of the Rich Man and Lazarus is a depiction of the wealthy and the poor (cf. Lk.16:19-31). Moreover, an illustration of how we are called to view the poor and what happens when we fail to have a heart for the poor. It is in light of understanding that we are in a fight for the salvation of souls (ours first), that we begin to observe our need to be in solidarity with ALL our brothers and sisters in Christ. Using Paul’s understanding of the life that fights the good fight as a hermeneutic, we can begin to appreciate the dynamism behind man’s need to be willing to sacrifice for the sake of other. This is the threshold for Christianity to bring an end to poverty. It demands that we personally move from the want to the need that others needs become realities. Amen!

“You must fight against the temptation to water down the requirements of the Gospel, the temptation to falsify Jesus’ message by weakening the personal and collective moral demands that he makes on those who follow him. To fight against this temptation is to ‘fight the good fight of faith’.”

--John Paul II

Primary Texts Consulted

•  Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
•  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.
• Hahn, Scott and Minch, Curtis. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, RSV, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010.

“Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.”
--Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Primary Texts Consulted

•  Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
•  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.

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