TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST 2 Cl G
(Matins: Third Week)
Gl Cr Pr of the Holy Trinity
Introit, Gradual, Alleluia Verse, Offertory & Communion of the Twenty-Third
Sunday after Pentecost:
Collect, Epistle, Gospel, Secret & Postcommunion of
the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.

COLLECT Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy household by Thy continual mercy; that as it
leans only upon the hope of Thy heavenly grace, so it may ever be defended by Thy protection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

EPISTLE (Col. III. 12-17.) Brethren, put ye on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the
bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience; bearing with one another, and
forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another; even as the Lord hath forgiven
you, so you also. But above all these things, have charity, which is the bond of perfection: and
let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body; and be ye
thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your
hearts to God. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, all things, do ye in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Why does St. Paul call charity the bond of perfection?
Because charity comprises in itself and links all the virtues in which perfection consists. For
whoever truly loves God and his neighbor, is also good, merciful, humble, modest, patiently
bears the weakness of his neighbor, willingly forgives offences, in a word, practices all virtues
for the sake of charity.

When does the peace of God rejoice in our hearts?
When we have learned to conquer our evil inclinations, passions, and desires, and have placed
order and quiet in our hearts instead. This peace then, like a queen, keeps all the wishes of the
soul in harmony, and causes us to enjoy constant peace with our neighbor, and thus serve
Christ in concord, as the members of one body serve the head. The best means of preserving
this peace are earnest attention to the word of God, mutual imparting of pious exhortations
and admonitions, and by singing hymns, psalms, and spiritual canticles.
Why should we do all in the name of Jesus?

Because only then can our works have real worth in the sight of God, and be pleasing to Him,
when they are performed for love of Jesus, in His honor, in accordance with His spirit and will.
Therefore the apostle admonishes us to do all things, eat, drink, sleep, work &c. in the name of
Jesus, and so honor God, the Heavenly Father, and show our gratitude to Him. Oh, how
grieved will they be on their death-bed who have neglected to offer God their daily work by a
good intention, then they will see, when too late, how deficient they are in meritorious deeds.
On the contrary they will rejoice whose consciences testify, that in all their actions they had in
view only the will and the honor of God! Would that this might be taken to heart especially by
those who have to earn their bread with difficulty and in distress, that they might always unite
their hardships and trials with the sufferings and merits of Jesus, offering them to the Heavenly
Father, and thus imitating Christ who had no other motive than the will and the glory of His
Heavenly Father.

ASPIRATION O God of love, of patience, and of mercy, turn our hearts to the sincere love of
our neighbor, and grant, that whatever we do in thoughts, words and actions, we may do in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through Him render thanks to Thee.

GOSPEL (Matt. XIII. 24-30,) At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitudes: The
kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men were
asleep, his enemy came, and oversowed cockle among the wheat, and went his way. And when
the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the
servants of the good man of the house coming, said to him: Sir, didst thou not sow good seed
in thy field? whence, then, hath it cockle? And he said to them: An enemy bath done this. And
the servants said to him: Wilt thou that we go and gather it up? And he said: No, lest perhaps,
gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until
the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle,
and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.

What is understood by the kingdom of heaven ?

The Church of God, or the collection of all orthodox Christians on earth, destined for heaven.
What is meant by the good seed, and by the cockle?
The good seed, as Christ Himself says, (Matt. XIII. 38.) signifies the children of the kingdom,
that is, the true Christians, the living members of the Church, who being converted by the
word of God sown into their hearts become children of God, and bring forth the fruit of good
works. The cockle means the children of iniquity, of the devil, that is, those who do evil; also
every wrong, false doctrine which leads men to evil.

Who sows the good seed, and by the cockle?

The good seed is sown by Jesus, the Son of Man not only directly, but through His apostles,
and the priests, their successors; the evil seed is sown by the devil, or by wicked men whom he
uses as his tools.

Who are the men who were asleep?

Those superiors in the Church; those bishops and pastors who take no care of their flock, and
do not warn them against seduction, when the devil comes and by wicked men sows the cockle
of erroneous doctrine and of crime; and those men who are careless and neglect to hear the
word of God and the sacrifice of the Mass, who neglect to pray, and do not receive the Sacraments.
In the souls of such the devil sows the seeds of bad thoughts, evil imaginations
and desires, from which spring, later, the cockle of pride, impurity, anger, envy, avarice, etc.
Why does not God allow the cockle, that is, the wicked people, to be rooted out and destroyed?
Because of His patience and long suffering towards the sinner to whom He gives time for
repentance, and because of His love for the just from whom He would not, by weeding out the
unjust, take away the occasion of practicing virtue and gathering up merits for themselves; for
because of the unjust, the just have numerous opportunities to exercise patience, humility, etc.

When is the time of the harvest?

The day of the last judgment when the reapers, that is, the angels, will go out and separate the
wicked from the just, and throw the wicked into the fiery furnace; while the just will be taken
into everlasting joy. (Matt. XIII. 29.)

http://www.sanctamissa.org/EN/spirituality...er-epiphany.pdf