Reading 1 1 Tm 6:13-16

Beloved:
I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,
and before Christ Jesus,
who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate
for the noble confession,
to keep the commandment without stain or reproach
until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ
that the blessed and only ruler
will make manifest at the proper time,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light,
and whom no human being has seen or can see.
To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm PS 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5

R. (2) Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.

Alleluia See Lk 8:15

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Lk 8:4-15

When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another
journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable.
“A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled,
and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew,
it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew,
it produced fruit a hundredfold.”
After saying this, he called out,
“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

Then his disciples asked him
what the meaning of this parable might be.
He answered,
“Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God
has been granted to you;
but to the rest, they are made known through parables
so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.

“This is the meaning of the parable.
The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard,
but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, but they have no root;
they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
As for the seed that fell among thorns,
they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along,
they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life,
and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil,
they are the ones who, when they have heard the word,
embrace it with a generous and good heart,
and bear fruit through perseverance.”

From: 1 Timothy 6:13-16

An Appeal to Defend the Faith (Continuation)

[13] In the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus who
in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, [14] I charge
you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the ap-
pearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; [15] and this will be made manifest at the pro-
per time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
[16] who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no
man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

13-14. “Keep the commandments”: the Greek may be referring to one specific
commandment (as the RSV reflects); but it can also mean law as a whole and,
more likely, the truths of Revelation, that is, the deposit of the faith professed
at Baptism.

St Paul very formally calls in, as witnesses to this instruction, God the Father
and Christ Jesus, “who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good
confession”. Jesus’ “testimony” includes his entire passion and the declaration
he made to the Roman procurator about messianic kingship and his true identi-
ty (cf. Jn 18:36-37).

“Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”: when referring to the second co-
ming of Christ the New Testament often uses the term “parousia” (cf. 1 Cor 15:
23; 2 Pet 3:4) or “revealing” (cf., e.g., 1 Cor 1:7); the Pastoral Epistles prefer
“appearing”, epiphany, manifestation (cf. 2 Tim 4:1, 8; Tit 2:13), which better re-
flect the coming of Christ in glory as Savior (cf. 2 Tim 1:10). There is, of course,
a wonderful continuity between the redemptive work of Christ, the action of the
Church in conserving Revelation and passing it on, and the final coming of Christ
at the end of time.

15-16. This doxology or hymn of praise, one of the richest and most beautiful in
the New Testament, may have been taken from the Church’s liturgy (which may
also be the case with the other hymns in this letter: cf. 1:17 and 3:15 -16). It
was possibly a reply to pagan hymns honoring rulers and emperors as gods.
However, it is more likely that this particular hymn was inspired by the Old Tes-
tament, which speaks of God in similar language. Whatever its origin, the impor-
tant thing about the hymn is that it expresses faith in God who merits all praise.

At a time known only to him (cf. Mt 24:36), God the Father will bring about the
glorious manifestation of Jesus Christ. The text refers to four attributes which
show the power and sublimity of God: he is the “only Sovereign”, from whom
all lawful rulers on earth receive their authority (cf. Jn 19:11). He is the “King
of kings and Lord of lords” (literally, “the King of those who reign and the Lord
of those who wield lordship”); this is not, then, a merely honorific title: he does
actually exercise sovereignty over those who claim to possess it (cf. Rev 17:14;
19:16). He is “immortal”, for immortality is proper to God, who is Life (cf. Jn 1:
4); angels and souls are immortal only by virtue of the nature given them by
God. Finally, he is “light” and brightness: these are attributed to God (cf. Ps
104:2) to show his sublimity: God transcends all created things and cannot be
fully comprehended by man. St Thomas explains that an object can be invisible
on two counts either because it lacks brightness, as occurs with things which
are dark and opaque, or because it is too bright, as occurs in the case of the
sun, which is so bright that the human eye cannot look at it; God is so far be-
yond the capacity of the human mind that man cannot entirely take him in even
though what we can learn about him by the right use of reason and through re-
velation is true and accurate (cf. “Commentary on 1 Tim, ad loc.”). The conclu-
sion of the hymn, which is liturgical and pedagogical in style, is similar to that
found in 1:17: there it says “honor and glory”, here “heaven and eternal domi-
nion”, putting more stress on God’s sovereignty.

This and the other hymns which appear in the letter show that the first Chris-
tians were fully aware that man’s true purpose in life is to give glory to God.
“We do not live for the world, or for our own honor, but for the honor of God, for
the glory of God, for the service of God. That is what should motivate us!” (St.
J. Escriva, “The Forge”, 851).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 8:4-15

Parable of the Sower. The Meaning of the Parables

[4] And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came
to Him (Jesus), He said in a parable: [5] “A sower went out to sow his seed; and
as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds
of the air devoured it. [6] And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered
away, because it had no moisture. [7] And some fell among thorns; and the thorns
grew with it and choked it. [8] And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded
a hundredfold.” As He said this, He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.”

[9] And when His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, [10] He said,
“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but for
others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they
may not understand. [11] Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
[12] The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes
and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be
saved. [13] And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word,
receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of
temptation fall away. [14] And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those
who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches
and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. [15] And as for that in the
good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and
good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

4-8. Our Lord explains this parable in verses 11-15. The seed is Jesus Himself
and His preaching; and the different kinds of ground it falls on reflect people’s
different attitudes to Jesus and His teaching. Our Lord sows the life of grace in
souls through the preaching of the Church and through an endless flow of actual
graces.

10-12. Jesus uses parables to teach people the mysteries of the supernatural
life and thereby lead them to salvation. However, He foresaw that, due to the bad
dispositions of some of His listeners, these parables would lead them to harden
their hearts and to reject grace. For a fuller explanation of the purpose of para-
bles see the notes on Matthew 13:10-13 and Mark 4:11-12.

12. Some people are so immersed in a life of sin that they are the patch on
which falls the seed “which suffers from two kinds of hazard: it is trodden on by
wayfarers and snatched by birds. The path, therefore, is the heart, which is trod-
den on by the frequent traffic of evil thoughts, and cannot take in the seed and
let it germinate because it is so dried up” (St. Bede, “In Lucae Evangelium Ex-
positio, in loc.”). Souls hardened by sin can become good soil and bear fruit
through sincere repentance and penance. We should note the effort the devil
makes to prevent souls from being converted.

13. “Many people are pleased by what they hear, and they resolve to do good;
but as soon as they experience difficulties they give up the good words they
started. Stony ground has not enough soil, which is why the shoots fail to pro-
duce fruit. There are many who, when they hear greed criticized, do conceive a
loathing for it and extol the scorning of it; but as soon as the soul sees some-
thing else that it desires, it forgets what it previously promised. There are also
others who when they hear talk against impurity not only desire not to be
stained by the filth of the flesh but are even ashamed of the stains that they
already bear; but as soon as bodily beauty presents itself to their eyes, their
heart is so drawn by desires that it is as if they had done or decided to do no-
thing against these desires, and they act in a manner deserving condemnation
and in a way which they themselves previously condemned when they reflec-
ted on their behavior. Very often we feel compunction for our faults and yet we
go back and commit them even after bemoaning them” (St. Gregory the Great,
“In Evangelia Homiliae”, 15).

14. This is the case of people who after receiving the divine seed, the Christian
calling, and having stayed on the right path for some time, begin to give up the
struggle. These souls run the risk of developing a distaste for the things of God
and of taking the easy, and wrong, way of seeking compensations suggested
to them by their disordered ambition for power and their desire for material
wealth and a comfortable life involving no suffering.

A person in this situation begins to be lukewarm and tries to serve two masters:
“It is wrong to have two candles lighted—one to St. Michael and another to the
devil. We must snuff out the devil’s candle; we must spend our lives completely
in the service of the Lord. If our desire for holiness is sincere, if we are docile
enough to place ourselves in God’s hands, everything will go well. For He is
always ready to give us His grace” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 59).

15. Jesus tells us that the good soil has three features—listening to God’s de-
mands with the good disposition of a generous heart; striving to ensure that one
does not water down these demands as time goes by; and, finally, beginning
and beginning again and not being disheartened if the fruit is slow to appear.
“You cannot ‘rise’. It’s not surprising: that fall!

“Persevere and you will ‘rise’. Remember what a spiritual writer has said: your
poor soul is like a bird whose wings are caked with mud.

“Suns of heaven are needed and personal efforts, small and constant, to shake
off those inclinations, those vain fancies, that depression: that mud clinging to
your wings.

“And you will see yourself free. If you persevere, you will ‘rise’” (St. J. Escriva,
“The Way”, 991).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading
1 Timothy 6:13-16 ©

Before God the source of all life and before Christ, who spoke up as a witness for the truth in front of Pontius Pilate, I put to you the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who at the due time will be revealed

by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all,

the King of kings and the Lord of lords,

who alone is immortal,

whose home is in inaccessible light,

whom no man has seen and no man is able to see:

to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen.

Psalm	Psalm 99:1-5 ©