5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The world, with all its institutions, seems to be dominated by evil – called the Revolution by Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira – and follows winding paths, “progressing incessantly towards its tragic end.”1 However the good, or the Counter-Revolution, is invincible because it has an incalculable dynamism, “certainly superior to that of the Revolution”: grace.
For this reason, “when men decide to co-operate with God’s grace, the wonders of history are worked.” And the fruit of this co-operation consists in the “great resurrections of soul to which peoples are also susceptible. Invincible resurrections, because there is nothing that can defeat a virtuous people that truly loves God.”2
For this reason, let us pay close attention to this Sunday’s Liturgy.
In his vision, Isaiah receives the revelation that the Lord’s mantle is spread over the Temple, which is filled with incense and the clamour of voices (cf. Is 6:1-4). There is no place where the Lord is not present. The psalmist, who sings the thanksgiving of the people returning from exile, begs God to complete the work begun and recognizes that it is impossible to accomplish anything without Him, since everything is the fruit of His hands (cf. Ps 137).
St. Paul confesses his unworthiness – he does not even deserve “to be called an Apostle” – but declares without vanity that he has worked harder than all the others, “not I,” he says, “but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor 15:9-10).
Finally in the Gospel, in front of two boats standing on the shore of the lake, Jesus challenges and orders His disciples to put out into deeper water. Peter acknowledges the failure of a whole night’s effort – “We toiled all night and took nothing” – but he understands that failure can be the starting point for success when we decide to co-operate with grace: “at your word I will let down the nets” (Lk 5:5). And the miracle happened.
For good reason, Dr. Plinio commented: “When the torment or storm has reached its peak, it is time to prepare the incense and everything that is needed to sing the Magnificat. Because when suffering reaches its peak, Our Lady will intervene and save us.”3
In this way, people must recognize that it is completely futile for them to strive without God and that nothing, absolutely nothing that is good and true – in any field of human activity – can be accomplished without the help of grace.
“My soul magnifies the Lord!” (Lk 1:46), sang the Virgin Mary. To “magnify” is to recognize the need to turn to God in all of the actions of our lives. This is Our Lady’s teaching for humanity broken by original sin. ◊
Notes
1 CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Revolução e Contra Revolução. 9.ed. São Paulo: Arautos do Evangelho, 2024, p.36.
2 Idem, p.188.
3 CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Conference. São Paulo, 3/1/1967.
