Tuesday

30th Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: Romans 8:18-25

Christians are Children of God (Continuation)
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[18] I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

[19] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God;
[20] for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of
him who subjected it in hope; [21] because the creation itself will be set free from
its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. [22]
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;
[23] and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bo-
dies. [24] For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what he sees? [25] But if we hope for what we do not see,
we wait for it in patience.

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Commentary:

18. "Who is there then", St Cyprian comments, "who will not strive to attain so
great a glory, by making himself God's friend, to rejoice immediately with Christ,
to receive the divine rewards after the pains and sufferings of this life? If it is glo-
rious for soldiers of this world to return to their fatherland victorious after defeating
the enemy, how much greater and more pleasing glory will there not be, once the
devil is overcome, to return victorious to heaven [...]; to bear with one the trophies
of victory [...]; to sit at God's side when he comes to judge, to be a co-heir with
Christ, to be made equal to the angels and to enjoy with the Patriarchs, with the
Apostles and with the Prophets the possession of the Kingdom of heaven [...].
A pirit secure in these supernatural thoughts stays strong and firm, and is un-
moved by the attacks of demons and the threats of this world, a spirit streng-
thened by a solid and confident faith in the future [...]. It leaves here with dignity
and confidence, rejoicing in one moment to close its eyes which looked on men
and the world, and to see God and Christ! [...]. These are the thoughts the mind
should have, this is how it ought to reflect, night and day. If persecution finds
God's soldier prepared in this manner, there will be no power capable of over-
coming a spirit so equipped for the struggle" ("Epist. ad Fortunatum", 13).

19-21. To make his point more vividly St Paul, in a metaphor, depicts the whole
of creation, the material universe, as a living person, groaning in pain impatiently
waiting for a future event, raising its head, straining o see something appear
on the horizon.

The material world is indeed, through God's design, linked to man and his desti-
ny. "Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created 'in the image of God,' as
able to know and love his Creator, and as set by him over all earthly creatures
that he might rule them, and make use of them, while glorifying God" (Vatican II,
"Gaudium Et Spes", 12). The futility to which creation is subject is not so much
corruption and death as the disorder resulting from sin. According to God's plan
material things should be resources which enable man to attain the ultimate goal
of his existence. By using them in a disordered way, disconnecting them from
God, man turns them into instruments of sin, which therefore are subject to the
consequences of sin.

"Are we of the twentieth century not convinced of the overpoweringly eloquent
words of the Apostle of the Gentiles concerning the 'creation (that) has been
groaning in travail together until now' and 'waits with eager longing for the revea-
ling of the sons of God', the creation that' was subjected to futility'? Does not
the previously unknown immense progress--which has taken place especially
in the course of this century--in the field of man's dominion over the world itself
reveal--to a previously unknown degree--that manifold subjection 'to futility'? [...]
The world of the previously unattained conquests of science and technology--is
it not also the world 'groaning in travail' that 'waits with eager longing for the re-
vealing of the sons of God'?" (John Paul II, "Redemptor Hominis", 8).

Reestablishment of the order willed by God, bringing the whole world to fulfill its
true purpose, is the particular mission of the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, the true
Lord of history: "'The arm of the Lord has not been shortened.' God is no less po-
werful today than he was in other times; his love for man is no less true. Our faith
teaches us that all creation, the movement of the earth and the other heavenly
bodies, the good actions of creatures and all the good that has been achieved in
history, in short everything, comes from God and is directed toward him.

"The action of the Holy Spirit may pass unnoticed because God does not reveal
to us his plans, and because man's sin obscures the divine gifts. But faith tells
us that God is always acting. He has created us and maintains us in existence,
and he is leading all creation by his grace towards the glorious freedom of the
children of God" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 130).


(II) 1st Reading: Ephesians 5:21-33

Duties of Husband and Wife
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[21] Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. [22] Wives, be subject
to your husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife as
Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] As the
church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their hus-
bands. [25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave him-
self up for her, [26] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the wa-
shing of water with the word, [27] that he might present the church to himself in
splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and
without blemish. [28] Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bo-
dies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no man ever hates his own
flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, [30] because
we are members of his body. [31] ''For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one." [32] This
is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the church; [33] how-
ever, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she
respects her husband.

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Commentary:

21. St Paul here provides a general principle which should govern relationships
among members of the Church: they should submit to one another, knowing
that Christ is their true judge. At the same time, the Apostle uses this principle
to say something about relationships in society, specifically family relationships;
in these there is an element of natural dependence -- of wife on husband (5:22-
24), of children on parents (6:1-4), and of servants on masters (6:5-9). However,
although there is an inbuilt natural element of authority in these situations, the
Apostle sees it as having a new dimension in the Christian context, for he is
acutely conscious of the dignity that belongs to each, and of Christ's lordship
over all.

22-24. The basis of the supernatural grandeur and dignity of Christian marriage
lies in the fact that it is an extension of the union between Christ and his Church.
To exhort Christian married couples to live in accordance with their membership
of the Church, the Apostle establishes an analogy whereby the husband repre-
sents Christ and the wife the Church. This teaching has its roots in the Old Tes-
tament, where the relationships between Yahweh and his people are expressed,
in the preaching of the prophets, in terms of the relationships between husband
and wife. The husband loves his wife truly, he is completely faithful to her (Hos
1:3; Jer 2:20; Ezek 16: 1-34). God is forever faithful to the love he has shown Is-
rael, and he is ever ready to pardon her (cf. Is 54:5-8; 62:4-5; Jer 31:21-22) and
to re-establish his Covenant with the people (cf. Is 16:5-63). Jesus also describes
himself as the bridegroom (cf. Mt 9:15; Jn 3:29) and he uses the image of the
wedding banquet to explain the significance of his coming (cf. Mt 22:1-14; 25:1-
13). He brings into being the New Covenant, which gives rise to the new people
of God, the Church (cf. Mt 26:26-29 and par.); and so the relationship between
Christ and the Church appears in the New Testament in terms of husband-wife;
as the Second Vatican Council put it, "The Church is also [...] described as the
spotless spouse of the spotless Lamb (Rev 19:7; 21:2, 9; 22:17). It is she whom
Christ 'loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her'
(Eph 5:26). It is she whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and
whom he constantly 'nourishes and cherishes' (Eph 5:29). It is she whom, once
purified, he willed to be joined to himself, subject in love and fidelity (cf. Eph 5:
24)" ("Lumen Gentium",6).

St Paul is not just using Christian marriage as a comparison to explain Christ's
relationship with the Church: he is saying that relationship is actually symbo-
lized and verified between Christian husband and wife. This means that marriage
between baptized people is a true sacrament, as the Church has always taught
and as Vatican II has repeated: "Christ our Lord has abundantly blessed this
love, which is rich in its various features, coming as it does from the spring of
divine love and modeled on Christ's own union with the Church. Just as of old
God encountered his people with a covenant of love and fidelity, so our Savior,
the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian spouses through the sa-
crament of marriage. He abides with them in order that by their mutual self-gi-
ving spouses will love each other with enduring fidelity, as he loved the Church
and delivered himself for it. Authentic married love is caught up into divine love
and is directed and enriched by the redemptive power of Christ and the salvific
action of the Church, with the result that the spouses are effectively led to God
and are helped and strengthened in their lofty role as fathers and mothers"
("Gaudium Et Spes", 48).

When St Paul exhorts wives to be "subject" to their husbands, he is not only ta-
king into account the social position of women at the time but also the fact that
a Christian wife, by the way she relates to her husband, should reflect the Church
itself, in its obedience to Christ. The husband, for his part, is asked to be similar-
ly submissive to his wife, for he is a reflection of Jesus Christ, who gave himself
up even to death out of love for the Church (cf. v. 25). In 1930 Pope Pius XI taught
that "the submission of the wife neither ignores nor suppresses the liberty to
which her dignity as a human person and her noble functions as wife, mother,
and companion give her the full right. It does not oblige her to yield indiscrimina-
tely to all the desires of her husband, which may be unreasonable or incompa-
tible with her wifely dignity. Nor does it mean that she is on a level with persons
who in law are called minors, and who are ordinarily denied the unrestricted ex-
ercise of their rights on the ground of their immature judgment and inexperience.
But it does forbid such abuse of freedom as would neglect the welfare of the fa-
mily; it refuses, in this body which is the family, to allow the heart to be separa-
ted from the head, with great detriment to the body itself and even with risk of di-
saster. If the husband is the head of the domestic body, then the wife is its heart;
and as the first holds the primacy of authority, so the second can and ought to
claim the primacy of love" ("Casti Connubii", 10).

Thus, in contrast with the low regard in which women were held in the East in
ancient times (when they were in general seen as lesser mortals), Christian tea-
ching recognizes the essential equality of man and woman: "Above all it is im-
portant to underline the equal dignity and responsibility of women with men. This
equality is realized in a unique manner in that reciprocal self-giving by each one
to the other and by both to the children which is proper to marriage and the fami-
ly. What human reason intuitively perceives and acknowledges is fully revealed
by the word of God: the history of salvation, in fact, is a continuous and luminous
testimony to the dignity of women.

"In creating the human race 'male and female' (Gen 1:27), God gives man and
woman an equal personal dignity, endowing them with the inalienable rights and
responsibilities proper to the human person. God then manifests the dignity of
women in the highest form possible, by assuming human flesh from the Virgin
Mary, whom the Church honors as the Mother of God, calling her the new Eve
and presenting her as the model of redeemed woman. The sensitive respect of
Jesus towards the women whom he called to his following and his friendship, his
appearing on Easter morning to a woman before the other disciples, the mission
entrusted to women to carry the good news of the Resurrection to the Apostles
these are all signs that confirm the special esteem of the Lord Jesus for women"
(John Paul II, "Familiaris Consortio", 22).

St. Escriva provides another summary of this teaching: "Women, like men, pos-
sess the dignity of being persons and children of God. Nevertheless, on this ba-
sis of fundamental equality, each must achieve what is appropriate to him or her
[...]. Women are called to bring to the family, to society and to the Church cha-
racteristics which are their own and which they alone can give -- their gentle
warmth and untiring generosity, their love for detail, their quick-wittedness and
intuition, their simple and deep piety, their constancy ..." ("Conversations", 87).

25-27. Love between husband and wife is also founded on Christ's love for his
Church. New Testament revelation fixes this high standard for a husband's love
for his wife because the model for this life is nothing less than Christ's love for
the Church. St Paul, in fact, expresses this in terms of a betrothed couple, with
the bride all dressed up to be presented to the bridegroom: Christ similarly sanc-
tifies and purifies, through Baptism, those who are going to become members
of his Church. The sacrament of Baptism, reflected in the words "by the washing
of water with the word", applies that redemption which Jesus has brought about
through his sacrifice on the cross.

27. 'The Church", Vatican II teaches, "[. .] is held, as a matter of faith, to be un-
failingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and
the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy,' loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself
up for her so as to sanctify her (cf. Eph 5:25-26); he joined her to himself as his
body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. There-
fore all in the Church, whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it,
are called to holiness, according to the Apostle's saying: 'For this is the will of
God, your sanctification' (1 Thess 4:3; cf. Eph 1:4). This holiness of the Church
is constantly shown forth in the fruits of grace which the Spirit produces in the
faithful and so it must be; it is expressed in many ways by the individuals who,
each in his own state of life, tend to the perfection of love, thus sanctifying others"
("Lumen Gentium", 39).

28-32. St Paul alludes to the text of Genesis 2:24 which has to do with marriage
as an institution and applies it to Christ and the Church. He thereby teaches that
marriage, as established by God from the beginning, is already in some way
saved, because it is a kind of reflection and symbol of God's love for mankind.

"Receiving and meditating faithfully on the word of God, the Church has solemnly
taught and continues to teach that the marriage of the baptized is one of the se-
ven sacraments of the New Covenant [...].

"By virtue of the sacramentality of their marriage, spouses are bound to one ano-
ther in the most profoundly indissoluble manner. Their belonging to each other is
the real representation, by means of the sacramental sign, of the very relation-
ship of Christ with the Church.

"Spouses are therefore the permanent reminder to the Church of what happened
on the Cross; they are for one another and for the children witnesses to the sal-
vation in which the sacrament makes them sharers" (John Paul II, "Familiaris
Consortio", 13).

The vocation of marriage is, then, a true way of holiness. The founder of Opus Dei
was always very emphatic about this: "For a Christian, marriage is not just a so-
cial institution, much less a mere remedy for human weakness. It is a genuine su-
pernatural calling. A great sacrament, in Christ and in the Church, says St Paul
(Eph 5:32). At the same time, it is a permanent contract between a man and a
woman. Whether we like it or not, marriage instituted by Christ cannot be dissol-
ved. It is a sacred sign that sanctifies an action of Jesus whereby he helps the
souls of those who marry and invites them to follow him transforming their whole
married life into an occasion for God's presence on earth" ("Christ Is Passing By",
23).

The holiness of their family and of those connected with it is very much a function
of the holiness of the married couple: "But they must not forget that the secret of
married happiness lies in everyday things, not in daydreams. It lies in discovering
the hidden joy of coming home in the evening; in affectionate relations with their
children; in everyday work in which the whole family cooperates; in good humor in
the face of difficulties that should be met with a sporting spirit; in making the best
use of all the advances that civilization offers to help us bring up children, to make
the house pleasant and life more simple" (St. J. Escriva, "Conversations", 91). 
See the note on Col 3:18-19.

31. On the indissolubility of marriage see the notes on Mt 5:31-32; Mk 10:1-12;
10:5-9; Lk 16:18; 1 Cor7:10-11.


Gospel Reading: Luke 13:18-21

Parables of the Grain of Mustard Seed and of the Leaven
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[18] He (Jesus) said therefore, "What is the Kingdom of God like? And to what
shall I compare it? [19] It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and
sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air
made nests in its branches."

[20] And again He said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? [21] It is
like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all
leavened."

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Commentary:

18-21. The grain of mustard and the leaven symbolize the Church, which starts
off as a little group of disciples and steadily spreads with the aid of the Holy
Spirit until it reaches the ends of the earth. As early as the second century Ter-
tullian claimed: "We are but of yesterday and yet we are everywhere" ("Apologe-
ticum", 7).

Our Lord "with the parable of the mustard seed encourages them to have faith
and shows them that the Gospel preaching will spread in spite of everything. 
The Lord's disciples were the weakest of men, but nevertheless, because of
the great power that was in them, the Gospel has been spread to every part of
the world" (St. John Chrysostom, "Hom. on St. Matthew", 46). Therefore, a
Christian should not be discouraged if his apostolic action seems very limited
and insignificant. With God's grace and his own faithfulness it will keep growing
like the mustard seed, in spite of difficulties: "In the moments of struggle and
opposition, when perhaps 'the good' fill your way with obstacles, lift up your
apostolic heart: listen to Jesus as He speaks of the grain of mustard seed and
of the leaven. And say to Him: '"edissere nobis parabolam": explain the parable
to me.' And you will feel the joy of contemplating the victory to come: the birds
of the air lodging in the branches of your apostolate, now only in its beginnings,
and the whole of the meal leavened" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 695).
　

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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. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

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