11th Sunday after Pentecost, August 4, 2013

11th Sunday after Pentecost – August 4, 2013

Epistle 1 Corinthians 4: 1-10                 Gospel Mark 7: 31-37

           

The publican in last week’s Gospel accuses himself, saying “I am not worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven.” St. Paul continues this lesson in humility in today’s Epistle saying, “I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church.” St. Paul puts humility before us so we will practice it because humility prevents us from fighting with each other to see who will be first or best. Humility is that gift from God that causes the “brethren to dwell together in unity .” (Psalm 133, v. 1, 3. KJV Psalm 132)  We acknowledge in today’s Introit that it is God that causes us to live together in the same house, that is, in the same Faith under the Church. Like the publican in last week’s Gospel, we are sometimes too afraid to name our faults, but the Church in today’s Collect prayer asks God to forgive the sins that we are too afraid to ask pardon for.

            St. Paul also shows us in today’s Epistle that even though he is now justified, that is, transformed from the state of unrighteousness to living in a state of sanctifying grace, a state of holiness and sonship of God, humility allows him never to forget his past sins “because I persecuted the Church”, as he put it.  The graces God gives the humble man permit him to see more clearly the enormity and disgrace of his sins. St. Augustine wrote of this, saying St. Paul “glorifies the just and the good God by publishing both the good he has received and the evil of his own acts . . . in order to win over to [Christ] the minds and hearts of all who hear him.” (St. Augustine, Retractationes  2: 6)

            There is more in Paul’s Epistle today, but I have limited my comments to humility, because it is a most important virtue on which depends not only all our progress but also our security in the Christian life. Humility allows us to thank God and praise Him for our lives that we live in a state of sanctifying grace, and humility keeps our pride in check by never forgetting our past sins.

            Jesus also spoke of humility when He said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 19: 13-15) A child’s faith is without any doubt or reservation, and so they give themselves over to love of parents and love of God with complete humility. Children don’t start with logic and arrive at such a love as great as this. To start with logic is to place the logic of our mind above God – in essence to worship ourselves. In Matthew 19  Jesus is urging us to do what children do, “for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.”

In today’s Gospel our Lord took aside the man who couldn’t hear or speak, to perform a miracle away from the crowd, thus teaching us that more miracles are wrought through humility and modesty than through the vanity and pride of public performance. He put His fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue to show that our Lord’s Body is united to His Divinity. He looked up to Heaven and groaned like a man in prayer might do, and then with a single word, “Ephpheta,” healed the man. Jesus could have cured him with a simple thought or word alone, but he looked up to heaven and groaned “to teach us to look up and sigh toward Him Whose throne is in heaven, confessing our need, that our ears should be opened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our tongue loosed by the spittle of our Saviour's Mouth, that is, by knowledge of His Divine Word, before we can use it to preach to others.” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Homily 10, Book 1 on Ezekiel)

The Redeemer’s fingers represent the gifts of the Holy Ghost. On another occasion, after casting out a devil, He said, “But if I by the finger of God cast out devils; doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you.” (Luke 11: 20) This same event is recorded with a different phrase by Matthew: “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you.” (Matthew 12: 28) When we compare the two readings, we learn that the terms “finger of God” and “Spirit of God” have the same meaning. Therefore, for our Lord, Who is God, to put His fingers into the ears of this man means to open the mind of the deaf person to obedience by means of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God.

At our Baptism the priest touched our ears and also said, “Ephpheta, be thou opened,” that is, be thou opened to the Word of God. In an earlier time, God spoke similar words to the Prophet Ezechiel: “And he said to me: Son of man, receive in thy heart and hear with thy ears all the words that I speak to thee. . . And go . . . to the children of thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them; Thus saith the Lord. . .” (Ezechiel 3: 10) In telling us of the miracle of the deaf and dumb man Mark confirms the words of Ezechiel.

Before we received the gift of faith and the sacraments we were not unlike this man who was deaf and dumb. These gifts healed our souls just as our Lord’s gift of a miracle healed this man’s ears and tongue. If we are truly thankful for our gifts we should tell others about them, just as the deaf and dumb man told others about the Lord after his cure. We would not have received the gifts of faith and the sacraments unless our Lord thought we were worthy of them. And we would be foolish indeed if we threw these gifts away rather than sharing them with others. +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass