27 August 2026 - Thursday of the 21st even-numbered week
1 Cor 1, 1-9; Mat 24, 42-51
Homily
As the first reading of Mass, we begin today with Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, which will accompany us for several weeks. This letter tells us a great deal about the inculturation of the Gospel in the pagan world during the first generation of the Church. Corinth was an important seaport, a large cosmopolitan city with a Greek language and culture, where the most diverse currents of thought and religion clashed, sometimes with rather loose morals. For the first Christians of Corinth, who belonged to the lower classes of the population, living the Gospel in this context led them to encounter difficult situations and to face many questions. Paul set out to resolve these situations in the various Letters he wrote to the Corinthians, two of which have survived. (He had written at least one other before these two.) The few lines in today's text are simply a greeting, of the kind with which Paul usually begins these Letters: He gives thanks to God for their faith and perseverance.