IHS
Ave Maria!
Second Sunday after Pentecost—29 May AD 2016
Sunday Within the Octave of Corpus Christi
Mass Text Latin - Sunday within the Octave
Mass Text English - Sunday within the OctavehEnglish Mass Text - Corpus Christi
Latin Mass Text - Corpus ChristiOn the traditional Catholic Calendar, this is not only the second Sunday after Pentecost, but it is also the Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi—the continuation of the celebration of the Last Supper of our Lord’s Body and Blood. That is why the vestments are white today, rather than the post-Pentecostal green.
Anyone who has ever given a party will recognize the disappointment felt by the man in today’s parable. You invite people—they agree to come—you clean your home—you buy food and drink—you spend time cooking—and then the phone rings and the excuses begin to roll in. In our time, you don’t hear about the farm or the oxen, but all of our friends seem to have equally lame excuses.
But the supper being given in today’s parable is much more important than your Saint Patrick’s day corned beef, cabbage, and green beer, or even you Fourth of July hot-dogs, sauerkraut, and apple pie dessert. The parable describes the celebration given by God and His only-begotten Son in eternity—not corned beef, not hot-dogs, but eternal life lived in the beatific vision of God. God desires the salvation of souls. Men and women are made in His image and likeness.[1] If we receive His advances toward us we can “become the adopted sons and daughters of God.”[2] He does not want us to perish in Hell. Only we, ourselves, send us there—when we reject His invitation.
The parable clearly addresses two rejections of God’s invitation—those who remain outside of God’s Church due to (1) avarice and (2) lust. Most of the commentators on this Gospel expand this to (1) pride, (2) avarice, and (3) lust, because Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, who were supremely proud of their own keeping of the Law of Moses—those who liked to be seen praying and fasting by other men, for that made them feel self-righteous. Moses commanded them to wear tassels on their clothing, so the Pharisees found the biggest tassels in Israel, so that they could be seen wearing them, even at a distance![3]
We might add a fourth category that causes people to reject God’s invitation, and that would be laziness. So, pride, avarice, lust, and laziness. We must make a concerted effort to drive these vices out of our lives. No one is more important than God. Nothing is so valuable that we would rather have it than God. Nothing can be more pleasurable that the embrace of God in the beatific vision. Nothing could bring a greater loss than being too lazy to pursue God.
As I mentioned earlier, we are within the Octave of Corpus Christi, the great feast of the Most Holy Eucharist. And there is no greater weapon against these four vices—pride, avarice, lust, and laziness—than frequent attendance at Holy Mass and the worthy reception of Holy Communion. Holy Mass is a prelude to the vision of God in heaven—in the Eucharistic Banquet, God is every bit as real as He is in heaven. No vice should be allowed to keep us away from Him.
And the Mass is much more than just a community meal—that is one of the principal errors of the Modernists. It is a dinner hosted by Jesus Christ Himself, even if the people are few, even if no one but the priest is present. But even more important, Holy Mass is the renewal of our Lord’s Sacrifice on the Cross. As such, it is the source of our Redemption, and the mechanism by which the sins of the faithful are forgiven—the priest forgives sins in the confessional, but he is able to do so precisely because he has the power to offer Jesus Christ in sacrifice to God the Father. That Sacrifice is the source of all forgiveness of sins.
In Holy Mass we share the sacred offering of Jesus Christ who both perfect priest and perfect victim. God, who is the essence of holiness, comes to dwell spiritually and physically in our body and soul. God the, Holy Ghost, will take up His abode with us and remain permanently as long as we drive out the vices that are so repugnant to Him.
Holy Mass and Holy Communion represent a foretaste of the divine life we hope to live with God in heaven for eternity. If we recognize the value of Holy Mass and we make the effort to receive our Lord both worthily and frequently, we will shed all of those pitifully lame excuses for turning down God’s invitation to eternal life.
NOTES:
[1] Genesis i: 27 http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drl&bk=1&ch=1&l=27#x
[3] Cf. Matthew xxiii:5 http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drl&bk=47&ch=23&l=5#x
