19th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(1^st Kings 19:9, 11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33)

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, about half-way through Jesus’ public ministry Jesus and His disciples had been caught in a storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus Himself had been asleep in the stern of the boat and His disciples -- in great alarm -- awakened Him most urgently.  He calmed both squally winds and foaming waves by calm words of authority and a gesture of peace.  The disciples had been amazed and said to one another:

 

            Who then is this?  Even the wind and the sea obey Him!   (Mark 4:41)

    

Shortly afterwards, however, as recorded in today’s Gospel reading, another such dangerous situation for Jesus’ disciples on the treacherous waters of Galilee took place while the Lord was praying alone on the mountain near where Jesus had miraculously fed some 5,000 men earlier that very day.  After that miracle Jesus had told His disciples to go by boat to the other side of the lake while He Himself would dismiss the crowds around.

 

His disciples obeyed Jesus, but they were still unclear about Him – Who is this? – even after having picked up 12 baskets full of broken bread and fish left over after the crowd had eaten their fill.  Aent squall hit the boat on their way to Gennesaret, and when they saw Jesus walking on the raging waters towards them in the fourth watch of the night -- which is from 3am.- 6am. -- they thought they were seeing a ghost!   Instead of taking comfort at the sight of Jesus coming towards them, some of them were even more frightened by the pseudo-ghost than they were of the storm itself.  All of them, however, were at a loss; all that is, except Peter, whose particular love for and commitment to Jesus, together with his own native courage and instinctive qualities of leadership, lead him to say:

 

            Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water! 

 

As yet, though, Peter’s spiritual qualities were not up to the impetuosity of his  native  courage and instinctive leadership; and though he had leapt overboard towards Jesus unhesitatingly, nevertheless, feeling the full force of the raging sea and his growing awareness of its threat as the waters mounted over his feet and up his legs, his words changed, and his nascent love for and commitment to Jesus could only enable him to cry out:

 

Lord, SAVE ME!

 

Truly Christian words indeed; but not, as yet, words up to the purposes Jesus had in mind for Peter and indeed for the other disciples who were still clinging to their boat and screaming more or less incoherently as the boat was being tossed uncontrollably by  the tumultuous power of the roaring wind and raging waters.

 

Now, dear People of God, what purposes or plans, hopes or desires, did Jesus have in mind for His disciples when, as we are told:

 

            He made the disciples get into a boat and precede Him to the other side?

 

It was already dark when He told His disciples to embark without Him.  He knew the force of the winds coming down from the hills around those narrow north-Galilean waters; He knew how unpredictable were such sudden violent storms.  Of course,  He knew full well that He could rescue them in whatever need they found themselves; but why, WHY, did He make:

 

            the disciples get into a boat and precede Him to the other side?

 

As chosen disciples of Jesus, they had been exultant, and ‘confirmed’ in their discipleship, at Jesus’ feeding of the five-thousand; but then, very shortly afterwards, they found themselves dreading a Jesus-like ghost; or allowed themselves to become  terrified at their present perils-on-the-sea, despite their previous experience of a  storm on Galilea with Jesus, and the fact of Jesus’ ‘apparent’ presence with them at this very moment?

 

Obviously, the disciples had much to learn about themselves and their relationship with Jesus.  Nevertheless, they had surely been confirmed in their relationship with, and acceptance of, Peter as their leader; for, although they had seen him openly break down before the threat into which his impetuosity had led him, nevertheless, Peter had shown himself to be much further advanced than they themselves were in his initial readiness to embrace threat and face sacrifice for love of Jesus:

 

             Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water!

 

Dear friends in Christ it would seem that at times Jesus does, can, and perhaps will once more, allow events, persons, trials of whatever sort, to disturb the relative tranquillity of our lives for our direct betterment, or that we might, at least, learn something we need to know about ourselves.

As for the disciples, Peter was taught the need for, and beauty of, perseverance in  giving to Jesus … he had not trusted-to-the-end the Spirit that had urged him towards Jesus.   As for the other disciples there, they were now no longer hesitant as they had, culpably(?) been before

 

            Who then is this (Whom) even the wind and the sea obey?

 

For, as Jesus got into the now-calm boat bringing Peter along with Him, they ‘impetuously’ followed the example of their now humbled leader by saying unanimously:

 

            Truly, You are the Son of God!

 

Surely, dear People of God, Peter and all the other Apostles had learnt lessons for life and salvation!   We should rejoice with them and pray for ourselves that, should Jesus and His Spirit come into our lives to test, teach, and uplift us as children of God called to share at the heavenly banquet of the Father of us all, we too may learn and whole-heartedly embrace the lessons God wants to teach us.

Transfiguration of Our Lord, Year A, 2023

 

(Daniel 7:9-10; 2 Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9)

When a dog looks at the world around it sees all the objects that are naturally visible to our eyes, but only as objects; it cannot appreciate -- what for us is, often enough, the most wonderful aspect of the world around us -- its beauty, its majesty, its mystery.

Scripture speaks on one occasion of scales falling or being taken from someone’s eyes:

Immediately there fell from (Saul’s) eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. (Acts 9:18)

We might therefore be permitted to say that a dogs’ eyes are ‘scaled’ from recognizing the  wonder that we can see around us.

Our Blessed Lord frequently came across human beings of whom the prophet Isaiah had prophetically  spoken, people of whom we can now, perhaps, say that they had ‘scaled’ minds: hearing simple, engaging, words of deep meaning, yet sensing, appreciating, little or nothing of the love motivating them, and thereby making themselves deaf  to the saving truth those words contained:

The Lord said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'   "Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and return and be healed."  (Isaiah 6:9-10)

On the Mount of Transfiguration the Father opened up a new experience of-life-and-being to Jesus’ chosen disciples Peter, James, and John; an experience they were only able to sustain and attempt to appreciate thanks to the fact that it was Jesus -- their Lord, their hope, and their Saviour -- Who was the subject and focus of all that was going on around them, and being mysteriously revealed to them.

When Jesus came, sent by His Father, the world had long known something of God,  but even the Chosen People had not come to appreciate Him;

O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know You, but I do.   (John 17:25)

Moses, thousands of years ago, after having spoken with God on Mount Sinai and coming down to the people, found it necessary to:

Put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory (on it), even though it was destined to fade away.  (2 Corinthians 3:13)

People of God, how many veils need to be lifted before men can ‘face’ the beauty of the world around us and recognize, love, and praise God its creator as they aught?   How many, many, scales need to fall from our eyes if we are to more fittingly appreciate and truly love what God has given to and for us in the supreme wonder of all creation, Jesus of Nazareth, His very own Son-made-flesh, the promised Christ of Israel, the Lord, God, and Saviour of all mankind??

As regards today’s feast, it is usual to think that Jesus -- having just spoken of His coming death to His disciples for the first time -- decided to lead them up the Mount of Transfiguration for their comforting and strengthening in Him, by letting them see something of His glory.  I do not think that is a satisfactory appreciation of the event.

So very often little notice is taken of the Father’s solicitude for creation, and love for His Son-made-flesh.

Just as -- I believe -- He, the Father, moved Jesus to leave His home in Nazareth and make His way to John baptizing contrite sinners in the Jordan near Jerusalem, for the fulfilment of His, the Father’s, own purpose to reveal, prepare, and glorify His Son for His public mission.  So it was here:  the Father drew Jesus to that mountain-top for Jesus’ Own Personal comforting and strengthening with regard to His impending Passion and Death; and also, with regard to those chosen Apostles, that they might learn sufficient understanding and perseverance, and receive necessary wisdom and strength, for their future establishment of Jesus’,  world-wide, Catholic, Church, by their authentic and authoritative proclamation of His Gospel.

The Father’s solicitude and care is so wonderful in the Scriptures and so very little of it is recognized, admired, and loved.

Jesus had learnt, as man, to know Israel’s God to be His very own Father.  That He had learnt from His sublimely Personal knowledge of, and acquaintance with, Israel’s God as taught Him at home from infancy; from His own more adult experience of Jewish obedience and worship;  and from  His Own Personal reading and understanding of the Scriptures given to the Chosen People.   And, of course, having learnt, as man, to know His Father in all truth, He also learnt of Himself and His own destiny-and-purpose, as God-man on earth:

Just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I will lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10:15)

Notice those words most carefully, dear People of God; because Jesus knew and loved His Father so sublimely that, appreciating His Father’s love for that creation He had originally made in HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS, Jesus decided:   I will lay down My life for those sheep.

That is why now, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father sent both Moses and Elijah to assure Jesus, as man, that He had most certainly learnt aright about God as His Father, and about  Himself as Son and Saviour from Israel’s Law and her Prophets.

If you had believed Moses you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me. 

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”   

 He (Jesus) said to them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” (John 5:46; 1:45; Luke 24:44)

St. Paul faithfully proclaimed this truth in his Roman captivity: (Acts 28:23; Romans 3:21)

They arranged a day with Paul and came to his lodgings in great numbers. From early morning until evening, he expounded his position to them, bearing witness to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets, (saying) ‘Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets.’    

And so it was that Jesus -- fully aware that the world was demanding His horrendous Roman Passion and Death -- could descend the Mount with calm preparedness and unshakeable resolution to face His own impending Personal destiny, with a sure and confident trust that His Father had just most clearly shown His Personal love for His beloved Son, and His caring will and wise preparation for the future establishment of His Church among men.

O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know You sent Me.  (John 17:25)

That calm assurance was to be the hallmark of the Transfiguration for He solemnly advised His three Apostles on their approach to their brethren and the people:

            Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.

Dear Catholic people living in a truly adulterous world, may this glorious day enrich you with a like calm and confident trust in God’s most Holy Spirit -- given us at Pentecost and renewed this very day-- sent to guide and sustain us in Mother Church along the ways of Jesus to that salvation prepared for all those sons and daughters, children of God in Jesus, in the Kingdom of His and our heavenly Father.

17th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52)

 

Our readings this week, my dear People of God, give us great cause for gratitude and hope.  Just think of those words of St. Paul that you heard in the second reading:

Those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those He predestined He also called; and those He called He also justified; and those He justified He also glorified.

That means that God foreknew each one of you baptized Catholics here present, and He predestined you to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.  How do we know that?  Because God the Father called you to faith in Jesus and, through the waters of baptism, washed you clean of all sin, to become a member of Jesus’ Body, the Church, where you are endowed with the Gift of God’s Holy Spirit.  Thus justified, you are also being glorified, for that outpouring of the Spirit of Christ into your soul is the beginning of a life-long process of glorification and sanctification whereby the Spirit of Jesus will lead you ever further along the way of Jesus to the Father.  Every time you receive Jesus in Holy Communion and open yourself up to Him in loving gratitude and prayer, that glory -- which is the presence of His Spirit in you -- will shine ever more brightly for love of the Father.  You and I, each and every one of us, known and loved by God the Father before time in His Son, are thus destined for eternal glory, IF -- by the Spirit of sanctification -- we persevere faithfully in Jesus and His Church!

What degree of glory will be ours?  That we do not know; but we do know that Mary, a girl from Nazareth, is now Queen of Heaven above all the Angels, Principalities, and Powers because she became the most loving and beautiful mother of God’s own Son-in- human-flesh.  Our own degree of eternal glory will likewise depend on our relationship with Him and His Father’s plan for us; notice that, dear People of God, egalitarianism is not on God’s agenda!

His universal goodness, however, is absolutely essential to that agenda for He loves each and every one of us, in our individuality; and that means that though there are and will be distinctions or differences, there will  be no discrimination whatsoever, because our own degree of eternal glory will also depend, of course, on our personal commitment to His Person (love) and His will (obedience) during our time on earth.

Our glorification has already begun; that we know because we love Jesus Who is in heaven and we hope for, look forward to, His heavenly promises; with the result that, although we are still subject to temptation here on earth, we are not ruled by the earthly lusts of our flesh, nor do we allow ourselves to be dominated by that earthly pride which would drive us to seek earthly success, power, and prestige above all else.

As yet, however, we cannot see the final result of our struggles, or the fullness of our on-going glorification, but St. John (1 John 3:2) does assure us that:

Beloved, now we are children of God; it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  

What we have to do, therefore, throughout our life on earth, is to remain faithful to Jesus.

That will most certainly demand effort at times, because we have to be tested, formed, and found worthy of God’s gifts and promises, as you heard earlier:

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.

Surely, dear friends in Christ, we should regard ourselves as having found a treasure, a pearl of great price, indeed, the delight of our life, and we should carefully listen to and try to gratefully appreciate, Jesus’ parables in today’s Gospel reading:

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Now, all of us here are in a similar position, for Jesus is the Father’s sublime treasure, His  pearl beyond compare, and He has been revealed to us by the Father:

No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  (John 6:44)

Why has the Father drawn us to Jesus?

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.   (John 3:16)

Yes, Jesus is indeed the treasure, the pearl of great price, and each of us knows where He is to be found for our ever-greater delight and growth: in the life and sacraments of Mother Church; above all, in the Eucharist and the Scriptures.  Only the Spirit of Jesus, given in fullness to Mother Church, can reveal to us -- in and through her worship and teaching -- the wonder of Jesus' saving  life and love; only the Spirit of Jesus can enable us to share in the life of Jesus through her Holy Scriptures and  the sacraments given to Mother Church as sources of divine life and conduits of saving grace for us, her children; only the Spirit can gradually fill and transfigure the thoughts of our mind and the aspirations of our heart through our communion with Him: as we watch and listen for, and courageously obey, His secret guidance, leading each of us along the way of Jesus.

One can indeed find treasures of wisdom and pearls of beauty in the various religions and traditions whereby men and women have sought and served God throughout human history.  However, the one supreme treasure, the one pearl precious beyond all compare  is Jesus of Nazareth -- God's supreme revelation of His very own Being as the God-of- universal-love, in His only begotten Son-made-man, by His Gift of the Spirit of them Both  -- Who is to be found uniquely in the Eucharist and in the Scriptures of the Universal Catholic and Christian Church which is His Body, and which is unfailingly sustained and infallibly guided by God’s Holy Spirit into all truth about eternal life and salvation.

The question now is: what are you doing about that treasure, what efforts are you willing to make to ensure that that pearl offered you may indeed become yours for all eternity? Pope St. Gregory the Great tells a story which goes something like this: imagine someone going on, let us say, a journey on the Orient Express, travelling in luxury towards some wonderful destination, let us imagine, Venice.  It is a long journey; deliberately so, because the trip is meant to embrace many places of great interest along the way: places of beauty such as mountain villages and places of curious attraction, such as ancient bazaars.  Let us further imagine that the train stops at some of these places and, on one particular day, allows passengers to alight in order to visit a bazaar, a most famous one, during a two-hour stop by the Orient Express.  One passenger goes from stall to stall, into one bar or boutique after another; he haggles here and there for bargains to take back, and in this delightful process forgets all about the destination for which he had set out on this long, expensive, journey!  He forgets about Venice, the uniquely situated and wonderfully adorned city of history, culture and beauty, and loses himself in that smelly bazaar, distracted by little trinkets peddled by the hawkers there, and forgets all about, the train.  What a fool! 

People of God, so many Christians, so many Church members, are like that foolish traveller, allowing themselves to be distracted from seeking the Lord, by the pleasures and cares of life.  Others there are, who once were true servants of the Lord, but who -- over time – disastrously allowed themselves to lose their fervour and finally their faith.  We saw that in the life of King Solomon -- beloved of God -- as we heard in the first reading:

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of Me and I will give it to you.”  Solomon answered: “O LORD, my God, Give Your servant, an understanding heart to judge Your people and to distinguish right from wrong.   For who is able to govern this vast people of Yours?”

The LORD was pleased that Solomon made such a request.  However, King Solomon did not persevere in following the Lord’s statutes and commandments, becoming distracted from God by his success, by the loves of his life, and by the praises lavished on him:

When Solomon was old his wives turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD his God, as the heart of his father David had been.  

People of God, the gospel-treasure hidden in the Scriptures, the pearl at the centre of Church life, the delight of our Catholic conscience, is Jesus, the Word of God, now become our Saviour and our Glory, and Who ultimately will be our sublimely rich reward:

I rejoice in Your Word like one who discovers a great treasure. (Ps. 119:162 NLT)

It is for us to persevere as the prophet Micah (6:8) advises:

You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Finally, dear Catholic and Christian people, notice something that is in every one of our Sunday readings and which it is absolutely essential for us to know and avert to today; namely, the existence, the importance, and indeed the ultimately decisive reality of divinely distinguished GOOD as distinct from BAD, of RIGHT as distinct from WRONG:

O Lord my God, give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to distinguish right from wrong.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea.  When it is full, they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets, what is bad they throw away.  Thus it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Let us not, therefore, be put off by having to make decisions for what is right and good, against what is wrong and evil, for that which is good is an essential part of our Christian life and witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ in today’s adulterous world.  In Jesus we are being led on a journey of sanctification, and our destination is eternal glory as children of God. That is the hall-mark of a true Catholic and Christian.  But, if the Spirit is no longer able to move us in Jesus towards the Father, then we might end up like those nominal Catholics mentioned in our third parable today, bad fish not fit to be in the Church’s net.

16th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43)

 

Today, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the parable of the tares, the darnel or, as we would call them, the weeds, sown in a field of good corn, we have Jesus’ answer to those who complain about, or accuse, Mother Church in order to justify their own lack of faith.  Their complaint, their accusation, frequently ends like this: “You don't need to go to Church in order to live a good life.”

Strangely enough, the supremely devout Pharisees of Jesus’ time were somewhat akin to some of our faithless Catholics today in the sense that both like to imagine an exclusive religious community into which only those considered holy should be admitted. One great grief the Pharisees had against Jesus was that He did not accept their oral traditions as true criteria for holiness, but demanded from His disciples a holiness greater than that of the Pharisees.  On the other hand, neither did He always reject individuals commonly regarded as sinners; indeed, He was, at times, to be found eating and drinking with them, and even called one of them to become His disciple!

Minutely observing Jesus’ behaviour, the Scribes and Pharisees were constantly repeating to themselves thoughts like to those of Simon, their fellow Pharisee who, having invited Jesus to a meal, found himself mentally criticising Jesus’ patient indulgence towards a reputedly sinful woman who had ‘thrust’ herself, uninvited, among their company:

This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner. (Luke 7:39)

Of course, we are not considering here those who openly disobey and seriously contemn the teaching of Mother Church or those who would openly lead astray her faithful by their bad example, for St. Paul -- whom we so often today fear to follow -- clearly instructed his converts to get rid of such people.  Here we are thinking of those who, like today’s Gospel weeds, hide themselves among the corn; outwardly seeming to be part of the living, growing, fruit-promising crop, but secretly, by their lives destroying it.

Bearing that in mind, let us listen again to Jesus’ answer to His own ancient adversaries and to His Church’s modern critics:

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.  The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'  But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.   Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”'

That pseudo-wheat mentioned in Jesus’ parable was well known in those days and was considered a great nuisance.  It resembled wheat in appearance, but had no marketable value, nor was it of any use for eating.  The rabbis described it as “prostituted wheat”.  Sowing this stuff in someone’s field was a well-known crime: the Romans had a law against such actions, which said that “If you have sown tares into another’s field so that you might damage its productivity, not only can the master (of that field) act with force or covertly, but … also he can sue for damages.”   Jesus was telling a parable about events that were part and parcel of the lives of those listening to Him.

Notice, first of all, that this parable shows us that Jesus knows full that there would be weeds as well as wheat to be found in mother Church.  Indeed, in His parable, the problem is so urgent that the master’s workers say: “Should we root out these weeds at once?”  The master, however, knew more about the agricultural issues involved: for the roots of the tares were mixed together with those of the wheat, pull one up and you draw both. Therefore, he decided to delay the removal of the weeds: while the crop was growing to let both weeds and wheat remain together; however, when it is harvest time, the wheat were to be separated and put into the barn, while the tares would be bound into bundles for burning for, though they useless for food, they could be used as fuel for the fire.

What, therefore, is the teaching of Jesus for us today, People of God? 

First of all, there is an aspect of life in the Church that is not always sufficiently appreciated by Church members today but which is perfectly obvious to any present-day large-scale farmer, just as it was to our Gospel’s little field-owner watching his crop grow: namely, the fact that, just as weeds hinder the growth, the vitality, and the quality of a good crop, so also those of sinful life in the Church harm all who are in the Church.  And so, we need to bear that in mind today when we see Mother Church disfigured in so many ways, , scandals, shortage of vocations, and dwindling numbers of believers … the disfigurement we lament  is brought about most obviously by manifestly faithless or disobedient Catholics. Nevertheless, like the tares among the wheat in our Gospel reading, to some extent, the wrongs we ourselves may have done or the good we may have failed to promote or protect, has harmed that love of Jesus and the healthy atmosphere of Christian observance of God’s  commands for our well-being that Mother Church wants to promote.  Rather, therefore, than allowing ourselves to give way to so-called righteous indignation (which should really be recognized as self-righteous indignation) about this or that aspect  of the Church, we should pity her, love her all the more, because she is suffering for the sins of those she believed who are or should have been, her true children.

Sometimes in films and fiction, and even in the liberal talk of those wanting to show themselves in a popular light, we are presented with the picture of a jolly sinner, a loveable rogue, an attractive scoundrel; or again, with a Christian who understands all, sympathizes with and embraces all, condemning no sin for such great love of the sinner, and apparently having no convictions other than a desire to accommodate with whatever is with men.   In actual fact though, such sinners, rogues, and paragons, are the very wolves in sheep's clothing of which the Gospel assures us that they only tend to kill and destroy, for there is nothing lovable in condoned sin and indulged weakness.

People of God, we should not to allow ourselves to be over-scandalized, and most certainly not put-off Mother Church, because of the behaviour of individuals, be they every so highly placed, ever so many, ever so arrogant or despicable.  We must never forget those words of St. Peter in answer to Our Lord (John 6:67–68):

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”   Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

The second aspect to learn from today’s readings, is that we should never become despondent over Mother Church in her trials, no matter how powerful or popular her enemies may become; because in every parable of today’s Gospel God’s wheat was finally and successfully gathered in, and the minute mustard seed became a tree offering shelter and refuge, and the yeast ultimately permeated and leavened the chosen measure.

The corn sown by Jesus can grow only in the field which He, the Lord and Saviour, has chosen; any seed that falls by the wayside, among thorns or on the stony path, surely perishes in one way or another.  The seed of Jesus’ planting is His Word proclaimed authoritatively by the Apostles chosen by Jesus and subsequently sent out by Him to bring His Good News to the whole world, and such seed can only grow in Jesus' Church, watered by life-giving showers of His Most Holy Spirit.  Moreover, in that field there will always be true and faithful workers to be found, called and appointed by the Master to look after the seed He has sown; and through them, by His Spirit, He will always provide His People with the guidance and spiritual nourishment they need, nor He will ever fail to endow them with the grace and spiritual inspiration necessary for their supernatural fulfilment.  

People of God, we should always have a loving, personal, concern for and commitment to, Mother Church, and therefore we must always confidently hope and trust in Jesus, as we were encouraged in the first reading:

^Your might is the source of justice; Your mastery over all things makes You lenient to all; (and) You show Your might when the perfection of Your power is disbelieved.   But though You are master of might, You judge with clemency, and with much lenience You govern us; for power, whenever You will, attends You.

And we should always turn in our prayers and needs to His most Holy Spirit, for the Spirit has been given to guide and protect Mother Church and to form each and every one of us in Jesus, for the Father.  Remember and treasure the words of St. Paul in our reading:

In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.  ^ And the One who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.