Saturday, February 2, 2019
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's
The Church's Year
INTROIT Adore God, all ye His angels: Sion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Juda rejoiced. The Lord hath reigned; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad. (Ps. XCVI. 1.) Glory be to the Father, etc.
The Church's Year
INTROIT Adore God, all ye His angels: Sion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Juda rejoiced. The Lord hath reigned; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad. (Ps. XCVI. 1.) Glory be to the Father, etc.
COLLECT O
God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so great perils, that
because of the frailty of our nature we cannot stand; grant to us health
of mind and body, that those things which we suffer for our sins, we
may by Thy aid overcome. Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord &c.
EPISTLE (Romans
XIII. 8-10.) Brethren, owe no man anything, but to love one another;
for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. For thou shaft
not commit adultery; thou shaft not kill; thou shaft not steal; thou
shaft not bear false witness; thou shaft not covet; and if there be any
other commandment, it is comprised in this word: Thou shaft love thy
neighbor as thyself. The love of our neighbor worketh no evil. Love,
therefore, is the fulfilling of the law.
What is meant by St Paul's words: He that loveth his neighbor, hath fulfilled the law?
St.
Augustine in reference to these words says: that he who loves his
neighbor, fulfils as well the precepts of the first as of the second
tablet of the law. The reason is, that the love of our neighbor contains
and presupposes the love of God as its fountain and foundation. The
neighbor must be loved on account of God; for the neighbor cannot be
loved with true love, if we do not first love God. On this account, the
holy Evangelist St. John in his old age, always gave the exhortation:
Little children, love one another. And when asked why, he answered:
Because it is the command of the Lord, and it is enough to fulfill it.
Therefore in this love of the neighbor which comes from the love of God
and is contained in it, consists the fulfillment of the whole law.
(Matt. XXII. 40.)
GOSPEL (Matt.
VIII 23-27) At that time, when Jesus entered into the boat, his
disciples followed him. And behold, a great tempest arose in the sea, so
that the boat was covered with waves; but he was asleep. And they came
to him and awaked him, saying: Lord, save us, we perish. And Jesus saith
to them Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then rising up, he
commanded the winds and the sea, and there came a great calm. But the
men wondered, saying: What manner of man is this, for the winds and the
sea obey him?
Why did Christ sleep in the boat?
To test
the faith and confidence of His disciples; to exercise them in enduring
the persecutions which they were afterwards to endure; to teach us that
we should not waver in the storms of temptations. St. Augustine writes:
"Christ slept, and because of the danger the disciples were confused.
Why? Because Christ slept. In like manner thy heart becomes confused,
thy ship unquiet, when the waves of temptation break over it. Why?
Because thy faith sleeps. Then thou shouldst awaken Christ in thy heart;
then thy faith should be awakened, thy conscience quieted, thy ship
calmed."
Why did Christ reproach His disciples when they awaked Him and asked for help?
Because of
their little faith and trust; for if they firmly believed Him to be
true God, they would necessarily believe He could aid them sleeping as
well as waking.
Nothing so
displeases God as to doubt His powerful assistance. Cursed be the man
that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh (mortal man) his arm (aid), and
whose heart departeth from the Lord. Blessed be the man that trusteth in
the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence. (Jerem. XVII. 5. 7.)
God sometimes permits storms to assail us, such as poverty, persecution,
sickness, so that we may have occasion to put our confidence in Him
alone. Of this St. Bernard very beautifully says: "When the world rages,
when the wicked become furious, when the flesh turns against the
spirit, I will hope in Him. Who ever trusted in Him, and was put to
shame?" We should therefore trust in God only, and take refuge to Him,
invoking Him as did the disciples: Lord, save us, we perish; or cry out
with David: Arise, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, and cast us not off
to the end. (Ps. XLIII. 23.)
Why did Jesus stand up and command the sea to be still?
To show
His readiness to aid us, and His omnipotence to which all things are
subject. His disciples who saw this miracle, wondered and said: What
manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey Him?
We see
daily in all creatures the wonders of the Omnipotence, the wisdom, and
the goodness of God, and yet we are not touched; we continue cold and
indifferent. The reason is, that we look upon all with the eyes of the
body and not with the eyes of the soul; that is, we do not seek to
ascend by meditation to the Creator, and to judge from the manifold
beauty and usefulness of created things the goodness and the wisdom of
God. The saints rejoiced in all the works of the Lord; a flower, a
little worm of the earth would move the heart of St. Francis of Sales,
and St. Francis the Seraph, to wonderment and to the love of God; they
ascended, as on a ladder, from the contemplation of creatures to Him who
gives to every thing life, motion, and existence. If we were to follow
their example, we would certainly love God more, and more ardently
desire Him; if we do not, we live like irrational men, we who were
created only to know and to love God.
ASPIRATION Grant
us, O good Jesus! in all our needs, a great confidence in Thy divine
assistance, and do not allow us to become faint-hearted; let Thy
assistance come to us in the many dangers to which we are exposed;
command the turbulent winds and waves of persecution to be still, and
give peace and calmness to Thy Church, which Thou hast redeemed with Thy
precious blood, that we may serve Thee in sanctity and justice, and
arrive safely at the desired haven of eternal happiness. Amen.
ON THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
But he was asleep. (Matt VIII. 24.)
It is an
article of faith in the holy Catholic Church that God has not only
created the world, but that He sustains and governs it; this
preservation and ruling of the whole world and of each individual
creature is called Providence. There are people who think that God is
too great a Lord to busy Himself about the care of this world, that to
do so is beneath His majesty; it was enough for Him to create the world,
for the rest, He leaves it to itself or to fate, enjoys His own
happiness, and, as it were, sleeps in regard to us. Thus think some, but
only the ignorant and impious. Were He as these imagine Him, He would
not or could not have aught to do with creation. If He could not, then
He is neither all-wise nor almighty, if He would not, then He is not
good; and if He knows nothing of the world, then He is not omniscient.
If we once
believe that God created the world, (and what rational man can doubt
it?) then we must also believe He rules and sustains it. Can any work of
art, however well constructed and arranged, subsist without some one to
take charge of and watch aver the same? Would not the greatest of all
master-pieces, the world, therefore come to the greatest confusion and
fall back into its original nothingness, if God, who created it from
nothing, did not take care of its further order and existence? It is
indeed true that the method of Divine Providence with which God controls
all things is so mysterious that, when considering some events, one is
persuaded to admit a necessary fate, an accident, the course of nature,
the ill will of the devil or man, as the fundamental cause. Yet in all
this the providence of God is not denied, for nothing does or can happen
accidentally, not the smallest thing occurs without the knowledge,
permission, or direction of God. Not one sparrow shall fall on the
ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. (Matt. X. 29. 30.) Chance, fate, and luck are but the ideas of
insane or wicked men, which even the more rational heathens have
rejected, and the course of nature is but the constant, uninterrupted,
all-wise and bountiful preservation and government of creation through
God. The perverted will of men or of the devil is but the instrument
which God in His all-wise intention, uses to effect the good, for He
knows how to produce good from evil, and, therefore, as St. Augustine
says, "permits the evil that the good may not be left undone." If we
peruse the history of our first parents, of Abraham, of Joseph in Egypt,
of Moses, of the people of Israel, of Job, Ruth, David, Tobias, Esther,
Judith and others, we will easily see everywhere the plainest signs of
the wisest Providence, the best and most careful, absolute power, by
virtue of which God knows how to direct all things according to His
desire, and for the good of His chosen ones. The gospel of this day
furnishes us an instance of this? Why did Christ go into the boat? Why
did a storm arise? Why was He asleep? Did all this occur by accident?
No, it came about designedly by the ordinance of Christ that His
omnipotence might be seen, and the faith and confidence of His disciples
be strengthened.
Thus it is
certain that God foresees, directs, and governs all; as Scripture,
reason, and daily experience prove. Would we but pay more attention to
many events of our lives, we would certainly notice the providence of
God, and give ourselves up to His guidance and dispensations. The Lord
ruleth me, and I shall want nothing, says David. (Ps. XXII. 1.) And we
also, we shall want nothing if we resign ourselves to God's will, and
are contented with His dispensations in our regard; while, on the
contrary, if we oppose His will, we shall fall into misfortune and
error. God must rule over us with goodness, or with sternness, He is no
slumbering God. Behold! He shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keepeth
Israel. (Ps. CXX. 4.)
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