Ninth Sunday of Pentecost
Introit Behold God is my helper, and the Lord is the protector of my soul: turn back the evils upon mine enemies, and cut them off in Thy truth, O Lord my protector. Save me, O God, by Thy Name, and deliver me in Thy strength. ℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost…
Collect Graciously Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy suppliant people: and that you may grant their desire to those that seek; make them ask such things as please Thee. Through our Lord
Epistle (1 Corinthians 10) Brethren, let us not covet evil things, as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them: as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure, and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinks himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human: and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.
Gradual O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy Name in the whole earth! For Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens. Alleluia, alleluia. (Ps. 58:2.) Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: and defend me from them that rise up against me. Alleluia.
Gospel (Luke 19:41-47) At that time, when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, seeing the city, He wept over it saying: If you also had known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace: but now they are hidden from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side; and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation. And entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, saying to them: It is written, My house is the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. And He was teaching daily in the temple.
Offertory The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts, and His judgments sweeter than honey and the honeycomb: for your servant keeps them
Secret Grant to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may worthily frequent these Mysteries: for as often as the memorial of this Victim is celebrated, the work of our Redemption is wrought. Through our Lord …
Communion He that eats My Flesh, and drinks My Blood, abides in Me, and I in him, says the Lord.
Postcommunion May the communion of Thy Sacrament, we beseech Thee, O Lord, bring us cleansing and grant us unity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ …
Fundamentals of the Faith V
Bishop Morrow says of the Apostles’ Creed, that when we affirm it, we make an act of faith. Hebrews 11:6 teaches us that: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Of faith, the bishop writes: “Xia faith is a supernatural gift of God which enables us to believe firmly whatever God has revealed, on the testimony of His word. By it we believe in the truth of many things which we cannot grasp with our understanding. For example, we believe in God, although we cannot see Him. We believe in the Trinity although it is beyond our understanding. … Faith does not require us to believe anything contrary to reason. When we believe what we cannot perceive or understand, we act according to reason, which tells us that God cannot err, lie, or deceive us.” (My Catholic Faith, 5)
This is an important principle: the role of our reasons are limited, but that role is respected by the faith. As an example, the thermometer is a good, useful device for ascertaining the temperature of our surroundings. It cannot, however, measure latitude or longitude, or humidity, or tell us the time or the date. It does not contradict the thermometer to use a barometer to ascertain our height above sea level. The thermometer has its proper sphere, and the barometer has its. So too, we could not use faith to tell us how much money is in the till; rather we have to use our senses and our reason to count it. But neither would we try to use our reason when we need our faith: for example, to be sure of the existence of God, the necessity of loving Him, and the content of His commandments, we need faith, with the assistance of our senses and our reason.
In fact, our reason tells us that it is reasonable to use faith when reason can go no further. In that case, our reason simply recognises its limitations. Our reasons are, for us, powerful tools; and whatever problems come from the wrong use of reason, yet we would be very much worse off if we did not possess the gift of reason.
God cannot deceive us: but we can deceive ourselves, and very often we do. One of the most frequent examples of self-deception comes when we wish to believe that something is true, especially if it fits in with our pre-existing ideas, or is in our favour, as we see it. So too, many do not believe in God because they do not wish to accept the faith. Perhaps they think it would interfere with their pleasures, or that it would make them look silly before their friends, or they have bad consciences, and they wish to silence their conscience, rather than to repent and ease their souls; or some combination of these and other reasons. But, in the end, however it is explained away, ignorance is one thing (and often an excusable thing), but wilful ignorance or any other reaction against God is always an act of rebellion, for God has given us an innate desire to know Him. “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:25).
God, after all, is “the Supreme Being, infinitely perfect, Who made all things and keeps them in existence.” (p. 6) To say that He is the Supreme Being is to say that: “He is above all creatures, (being) the self-existing and infinitely perfect Spirit.” (p. 7) “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end … who is and who was and who is coming.” (Apocalypse 1:8). And a spirit is “a being that has understanding and free will, but no body, and will never die.” (p. 7) A spirit is therefore invisible and intangible: it can neither be seen nor touched unless God should make the spirit visible or tangible.
