Rev. Fr.
Leonard Goffine's The Church's Year
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
[For the
Introit of this day's Mass see the Introit of the third
Sunday after Epiphany.]
COLLECT Grant, we beseech Thee,
Almighty God, that ever fixing our thoughts on such things as are
reasonable, we may both in our words and works do what is pleasing
in Thy sight. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
EPISTLE (I. Thess. I. 2-10.)
Brethren, we give thanks to God for you all, making a remembrance of
you in our prayers without ceasing; being mindful of the work of
your faith, and labor, and charity, and of the enduring of the hope
of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father: knowing,
brethren, beloved of God, your election: for our gospel hath not
been unto you in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much fullness, as you know what manner of men we have
been among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us and of
the Lord, receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the
Holy Ghost: so that you were made a pattern to all that believe, in
Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you was spread abroad the word of
the Lord, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but also in every
place, your faith, which is towards God, is gone forth; so that we
need not to speak anything. For they themselves relate of us what
manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned, to God
from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his
Son from heaven (whom he raised from the dead), Jesus, who both
delivered us from the wrath to come.
EXPLANATION The apostle gives thanks
to God in prayer for those inhabitants of Thessalonia, who have been
converted to Christianity by his words, and declares to them his joy
at their Christian life which they prove by their good works and
their perseverance, even through all trials, in expectation of
eternal reward through Christ. He assures them also of their
salvation, (election) because God had caused the preaching of His
gospel, which they so willingly received, to produce in them such
extraordinary fruit. He praises them not only for having listened to
the gospel and abandoned idolatry, but for having regulated their
lives in accordance with the faith, and having become a model to
distant nations, for the report of their faith had spread far, and
everywhere their zealous reception of the gospel was spoken of.
Would that the same could be said of all Christians!
GOSPEL (Matt. XIII. 31-35.) At that
time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitudes: The kingdom of
heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and
sowed in his field: which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when
it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree,
so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches
thereof. Another parable he spoke to them: The kingdom of heaven is
like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal, until the whole was leavened. All these things Jesus spoke in
parables to the multitude, and without parables he did not speak to
them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden
from the foundation of the world.
What is here understood by the kingdom of heaven?
The Church and the
doctrine of Christ.
Why is the Church compared to a grain of
mustard-seed?
Because there is a
great similarity between them. The mustard-seed, though so small,
grows in Palestine so high and so rapidly, that it becomes a broad
tree, in which birds can build their nests. In like manner the
Church of Christ was in the beginning very small like the
mustard-seed, but it soon spread so wide that numberless people,
even great philosophers and princes, came to find peace and
protection under its branches.
Why is Christ's doctrine compared to
leaven?
Because like the
leaven, which quickly penetrates the flour, and makes it palatable
bread, the doctrine of Christ, spreading with surprising swiftness
over the then known parts of the globe, gave the Gentiles a taste
for divine things and for heavenly wisdom. Thus Christ’s doctrine
penetrates him who receives it, sanctifies all his thoughts, words,
and deeds, and makes him pleasing to God.
By what means, in particular, was the Church of Christ
propagated?
By the omnipotence
of God and the miracles which He so frequently wrought to prove the
truth and divinity of the Christian religion; the courageous faith,
and the pure moral life of the early Christians, which led many
pagan minds to accept the doctrine of Christ; and the persecution of
Christianity, for, as Tertullian says: "The blood of the martyrs was
the seed of the Church." The false doctrine of Mahomet, the
erroneous teachings of Luther, Calvin, and earlier and later
heretics have, it is true, also spread quickly far and wide; but
this is not to be wondered at, for it is easy to lead people to a
doctrine that encourages sensuality, and to which they are carried
by their evil inclinations, as was the case with the doctrine of the
impostor Mahomet, and three hundred years ago with the heresy of
Luther; but to spread a doctrine which demands the subduing of the
carnal, earthly inclinations, and to bend the will to the yoke of
obedience to faith, something more than human eloquence is required.
Thus, the Chancellor of England, Thomas More, who gave his blood for
the true doctrine of Christ, wrote to Luther, who was boasting of
the rapid increase of his sect: "It is easy to descend; seducing the
people to a bad life is nothing more marvellous than that a heavy
stone should fall of its own accord to the ground;" and Melanchton,
a friend of Luther, in answer to his mother's question, whether she
should remain a Catholic or receive Luther's doctrine, wrote : "In
this religion it is easy to live, in the Catholic it is easy to
die."
Why did Christ always speak in parables?
That His teaching
by being simple might be more easily understood, and better
remembered. He who is called upon to teach others, should, as did
Christ, always speak to
them according to their ability to understand, and by no means seek
his own honor, but the honor of God, and the benefit of those who
hear him.
PRAYER O most benign Jesus. How much do we give Thee thanks that
Thou hast permitted us to be born in Thy holy Church, and instructed
in Thy holy doctrine, which, like the mustard-seed, has grown to be
a large tree, spreading over the whole earth. Grant that under the
shadow of this tree, in Thy holy Church, we may ever rest securely,
cling to her faithfully, and penetrated, as by leaven, with her
doctrine may bring Thee pleasing fruits of faith and virtue.
Amen. |