The Triumphant Power of the Church

I –Teacher Par Excellence

“No man ever spoke like this man!” (Jn 7:46)—was the officers’ response to the members of the Sanhedrin, when the latter, who had sent them to seize Jesus, asked: “Why did you not bring Him?” (Jn 7:45). Truly, what teacher over the course of history could match the one true Teacher? If Our Lord is absolute Goodness, Truth and Beauty, is He not also the very essence of didactics? We must not forget that, as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, He is God. His didactics, therefore, must evidently be substantial as well.

Moreover, Jesus’ soul was created in the beatific vision, and so possessed the knowledge conferred upon those who contemplate the entire order of creation in God Himself. If this were not enough, we could also recall that He was granted infused knowledge as well, to the highest degree; and, added to these unsurpassable marvels, is His experimental knowledge. All of these treasures make of the One possessing them the Teacher par excellence. Christ Our Lord taught the truth as no one else had, and with eminent pedagogic qualities that no other person, from Adam until the end of the world, could boast.

Hence, the complex dilemma of the officers that the Sanhedrin had sent to apprehend Jesus: they had to either disobey their orders, or oppose their own conscience. Such was the grandeur Our Lord manifested in His teaching: that the soldiers were compelled to risk losing their position and even to be cast into prison. The light that issued from the Divine Master’s preaching even encompassed those who were at the service of evil in that situation.

A simple and efficacious method

By the sole fact of His being the best of all teachers, we have to affirm that Jesus could only choose the most efficient teaching method. As well, however incredible it may seem, this Teacher chose perhaps the simplest method, free of any affectation or exaggeration. There were no frills, meanderings, nor pointless hyperbole in His teaching. Devoid of the imbalances of ill-conceived rhetoric, His method produced the clearest and most salutary explanations.

Though Jesus based His teachings on the everyday occurrences of life at that time, they never lose their relevance; thus they will endure until the end of time, since “Veritas Domini manet in æternum—The faithfulness of the Lord endures forever” (Ps 117:2), is fulfilled in the words that He uttered. The Truth that Christ taught was Himself, and is therefore, eternal—not only in its origin, but in its projection in time, throughout the ages.

Furthermore, the metaphors that the Divine Master employed are useful historical components for the reconstruction of how life must have been in those times.

A fundamental theme: the Kingdom of God

It was not Our Lord’s primary concern to form great scholars, scientific geniuses, or even exceptional artists. His foremost objective was to clearly outline the doctrine that formed the foundation for the Kingdom of God, which is constituted, in its essence, by the Catholic and Apostolic Church itself—a militant Kingdom here on earth, united to a suffering Kingdom and another that is extraordinarily rich and triumphant.

Thus, the parables of Our Lord Jesus Christ had one principal goal, alongside their secondary ones. Practically all of them revolved around one fundamental theme: the Kingdom of God. Pope Benedict XVI states it thus: “The core content of the Gospel is this: The Kingdom of God is at hand. […] This announcement is the actual core of Jesus’ words and works.” ¹

The Church identifies itself with the Kingdom of God

Commentators and scholars commonly consider a phenomenon concerning founders: if their work continues after their death as it was during their life, or enjoys an even greater development, this is taken as a patent sign of the existence of an authentic impulse of the Holy Spirit behind their person and endeavours. In this case, the solidification and expansion of that work is a manifest desire of Divine Providence.

No institution ever had the degree of success that the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church has enjoyed throughout the past centuries, or the even greater degree it will experience in the future. Is there something in the order of creation that can serve as a perfect analogy for this sublime phenomenon? Not even the vitality contained in seed that is scattered or in a grain of mustard seed—elements of Our Lord’s preaching selected for this Sunday’s Gospel—is sufficient for this. And we will find it even more lacking if we consider the triumphs that the Holy Church will realize from now until the day of the Final Judgement.

The potential dynamism that exists in a seed provides but a pale image of the reality that exists in the penetrating, energetic and persistent action of the Holy Spirit upon the faithful. No obstacle can hinder the Church’s triumphant power, because She is one with the Kingdom of God and thus, at a certain moment, will prevail over the entire world.

This fact has already been witnessed at certain points in history, but it will be all the more so when God deigns that all should come to know the splendour of the fulfilment of Christ’s words: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). Once again, the divinity of its Founder will be clearly recognized on this occasion.

II – Parable of the Seed

In the Gospel for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus offers two parables to demonstrate the miraculous development of His Church and the great efficacy of the word of God, which, when sown in souls, germinates and grows by itself, producing abundant fruits.

The first, very short parable is found in the Gospel of St. Mark alone, being omitted by St. Matthew and St. Luke; still, its meaning is profound and filled with riches.

In the marked opinion of the Holy Fathers, adopted and annotated by Maldonado, the Kingdom of God is, in essence, the Church. As for the seed, they interpret it to be the preaching of the Word of God. The earth, in turn, represents the listeners, with a small difference in relation to the parable of the sower, narrated shortly before: only the good listeners are considered; those who put the Gospel message into practice, yielding considerable harvest.

Finally, the man who scatters the seed is Christ Himself, coming into the world “to bear witness to the truth” (Jn 18:37), as He would later affirm before Pilate. However, given the intimate union of Our Lord Jesus Christ with His ministers, and all those who become children of God by Baptism, this man of the parable also represents those who dedicate themselves to proclaiming the Gospel in the name of Jesus. ²

Efficacy of the Word of God

God created material things in such a way that, by analysing their symbolism, man can raise himself up to the loftiest heights of Creation. The dynamism that exists in plants is a beautiful image, then, of God’s action in souls—very often silent and imperceptible, as St. Gregory the Great affirms: “He advances amidst prosperity and adversity, though he knows it not for he is as yet unable to measure his increase, and yet virtue, once conceived, goes on increasing. When therefore we conceive good desires, we put seed into the ground; when we begin to work rightly, we are the blade. When we increase to the perfection of good works, we arrive at the ear; when we are firmly fixed in the perfection of the same working, we already put forth the full corn in the ear.” ³

We cannot forget that, according to Maldonado, “the objective of every parable is to show the great efficacy of the Word of God which, by the simple fact of falling on the earth, as is said in the previous parable, soon springs up on its own, grows and bears fruit.” ⁴

Further on, the learned Jesuit adds: “In offering this parable, it seems that Christ did not only intend to show the great innate power of the Word of God to germinate by itself, but also to remove every future occasion for vainglory from the Apostles.” ⁵ This is equivalent to saying, in the words of the Apostle: “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7).

The need for our willing cooperation

The latent power in a seed, to germinate into the plant, is an image of the inherent vigour of grace and charisms to act within the human soul. Yet, for this seed to sprout and bear fruit, our willing cooperation is necessary.

Concerning this, Cardinal Gomá affirms: “This earth, Chrysostom comments, is our free will, because the Lord does not do everything in the work of our salvation, but entrusts this to our will, so that the work will be spontaneous. It is true that without God we can do nothing in the supernatural order, but it is also certain that He will not save us without our willing cooperation. The fruit of eternal life comes from the seed and the earth, from God and from man.” ⁶

Likewise, preachers must not neglect the faithful among whom they have sown: “Yet, someone might ask: ‘Did Christ perhaps want to teach that preachers of the Gospel need no longer be concerned, once they have sown the seed of the Word of God in souls?’ Certainly not! On the contrary, they should frequently exhort, encourage and confirm those who heard the Word of God, so that they conserve what they acquired and the reward does not go to another, nor the devil snatch the seed away.” ⁷

Finally, it is interesting to ponder the problem Maldonado raises concerning the apparent absence of the principal sower, who symbolizes Christ.

“Some reader may have doubts as to how Christ’s role is to be understood in this parable, since, as the principal sower of the Word of God, if, after sowing it, He were to do nothing in the soul of the listeners (water it with His grace, etc.), it would never germinate. It so happens, that in some way it is truly He who sows, as man, and makes it bear fruit, as God. As man, He sows the seed, as the Apostles did later, and as God, He makes it grow with His grace, irrigating the soul, as it were, with a constant rain.” ⁸

The steps of the spiritual life

The slow and gradual growth of the plant is also rich in symbolism. After a slow germination, the sprout shoots forth from the earth. At first it is tender and fragile, but already searches for the sun. Little by little it grows and the ear emerges, in which are formed the grains—the fruit so desired by the sower.

Some authors, among them St. Bede and St. Gregory the Great, interpret this part of the parable as an allusion to the various stages in the spiritual life. Similar to newly germinated wheat, the soul, at the initial blossoming of the vocation, is avid for teaching and doctrine, captivated by everything that leads it to Heaven. However, the roots that are needed to support the good resolutions have yet to form; only after having courageously confronted the storms and winds of trial will it be ready to produce the agreeable fruit of good works.

For his part, St. Jerome summarizes the three ages of the interior life based on this passage: “‘First the blade’, that is, fear, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps 111:10), ‘then the ear’, that is to say, the penitent who weeps. And finally ‘the full grain in the ear’, in other words, charity, because charity is the fulfilling of the Law (Rom 13:10).” ⁹

The two comings of Christ

In this verse, the owner of the plantation once again enters the scene. He had actually never left, but maintained his watch over the seeds he had sown, as Maldonado explains: “Christ does not neglect the field already sown, namely, us. On the contrary, He protects us with His grace, so that Satan does not rob the seed of the Word of God conceived in us.” ¹⁰

However, the clear and manifest presence of the Lord of the Harvest only occurs twice in history: the first time, to sow the wheat of the Gospel, when He came to save and not to condemn (cf. Jn 3:17); the second, when “the Son of Man comes in His glory” (Mt 25:31) to judge the living and the dead; then will He wield His sharp sickle upon the harvest of the earth, and the harvest will be reaped (cf. Apoc 14:14ss).

III – The Parable of the Grain of Mustard Seed

While in the parable of the seed that is scattered, Jesus sought to highlight the intrinsic dynamism of the Word of God nourished by grace, what stands out in the parable of the grain of mustard seed is its great transforming power.

On this, Fr. Manuel de Tuya comments: “The comparison between ‘the smallest’ that becomes ‘the greatest’ is established here. The same will happen with the Kingdom: in the beginning, it is small, few are those who join it, but it will one day be so great that it will embrace multitudes.” ¹¹

And Cardinal Gomá adds: “The objective of the parable is to demonstrate the power of expansion of the seed of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus brought to the world. If, according to the first parable, only a portion of these seeds will be saved, and even these, as the parable of the weeds states, will be mixed with bad seeds, what will remain of the Kingdom of God? With this parable of the grain of mustard seed, Jesus banishes all fear: the power of the seed is immense and will overcome all obstacles, despite its small size.” ¹²

A tiny grain of admirable vegetative power

Jesus uses an agricultural image that is very common in Israel and the entire eastern world. The tininess of the mustard seed was proverbial among the Jewish, so it was with good reason that the Divine Master chose it as a figure of the Kingdom of God, rendering the example all the more illustrative.

Though diminutive, this seed possesses admirable vegetative power. Fillion explains that mustard was very often cultivated in the gardens of Palestine for its medicinal properties, and the Talmud describes its plants as veritable trees that could grow three metres high and support the weight of a man without risk of its branches breaking. ¹³

The symbolism of the mustard seed is interpreted in various ways by commentators. For Cardinal Gomá, it “symbolizses Jesus, whom the Father sent to the field of this world in the form of a servant, ‘scorned by men and despised by the people’ (Ps 22:6).” ¹⁴

St. Peter Chrysologus speaks in the same sense: “Christ is the Kingdom that, like a mustard seed planted in the garden of a virginal body, spread throughout the entire world on the tree of the Cross, and the savour of His fruit which was consummated with the Passion was so great that all the living could partake of it and nourish themselves.” ¹⁵

And St. Ambrose adds: “The Lord Himself is also a grain of mustard seed. He had the not the least vestige of any fault in Him, nevertheless, as in the example of the mustard seed, the people, because they did not know Him, had no contact with Him. He wished to be crushed that we might say ‘we are to God a sweet savour of Christ’ (2 Cor 2:15).” ¹⁶

Crushed, the seed reveals its strength

The mustard seed is also a symbol of the preaching of the Gospel, initiated by Jesus Christ and carried on by His disciples in Judea and afterwards throughout the entire world.

Who could believe that this handful of simple men accompanying Jesus would be sufficient to make the new doctrine that the Master had taught them known, loved and practiced throughout the whole world? Only divine daring could conceive such a plan and instil, in the souls of His followers, the courage to carry it out.

The Church would be born just like a seed that, upon rupture, produces the tree. Jesus Christ forewarned His disciples of difficulties, sufferings and persecutions.

St. Ambrose affirms: “A grain of mustard seed is indeed a mean and trifling thing, but as soon as it is crushed, it pours forth its power. And the Faith at first seems simple, but when it is buffeted by adversity it expands the grace of its virtue to the point of inebriating, with its sweet odour, all those who hear or read something about it.” ¹⁷

The need for suffering, which every soul possesses, is pointed out in beautiful prose by a French author of the eighteenth century: “This seed does not have strength while it is whole. However, when it is ground or crushed, it acquires a lively and pungent acridness. This is a beautiful symbol of the Christian in this life: when he is not suffering, he usually lacks strength and vitality; but when he is persecuted, oppressed, trampled underfoot, when he suffers and is reduced to dust, this is when his Faith becomes more vibrant, his love more ardent and his heart more ablaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit, in which he was set aflame — this is what gives him new strength.” ¹⁸

The tree of the Church, repose of wise men

In including this beautiful detail at the end of the parable, Jesus foretold the triumph of His doctrine even among the most powerful. The great thinkers, philosophers and wise men, renouncing the vanity of their knowledge, would come to repose under the shade of the word of the Gospel, the only one that enlightens and brings peace to the conscience.

Theophylact writes: “Most brief indeed is the word of faith; Believe in God, and you shall he saved. But the preaching of it has been spread far and wide over the earth, and increased so, that in time birds of heaven, that is, contemplative men, sublime in understanding and knowledge, dwell under it. For how many wise men among the Gentiles, quitting their wisdom, have found rest in the preaching of the Gospel!” ¹⁹

Cardinal Gomá quaintly complements this commentary: “The birds are gluttons for the seeds of this shrub and alight on its branches so as to eat them. These little birds represent the peoples of the whole world, who come to alight on the tree of the Church to receive its blessings.” ²⁰

IV – “Seek the Things that are Above”

God respects what He created; having given man freedom, He does not interfere with this by imposing His plans. On the contrary, He always permits man to adhere to good, without using coercion. Of course, once man has rejected good and chosen the path of evil, he loses his liberty. God acts thus so that it will be possible to reward man with His gifts and blessings.

This is one of the essential motives that prompted Our Lord to teach through parables, instead of using language that was direct and obligating. Faced with the parable, a person could easily form an erroneous interpretation and be less culpable thereby, than if he had categorically rejected an invitation made by God. The parable was the best means to facilitate the meritorious use of the liberty that He had granted men.

This is why Our Lord addressed the people through metaphors, and privately aided the intelligence of the Apostles, explaining to them the deeper meaning of everything He had said. Thus the Apostles, fortified by the grace He had created and instilled in the depths of their souls, were better able to virtuously adhere to all the invitations that Christ made in a very generic and implicit manner to the public opinion that heard Him.

Whoever analysed these two parables from a merely human standpoint without ascending to their most sublime meaning, would limit their capacity of relationship with God and would be more concerned with the things “from below” than those “from above” (Jn 8:23). They would thereby be living contrary to the counsel that St. Paul left us: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col 3:1-2).

It can be delightful to contemplate a beautiful building reflected on the placid waters of a lake. However, the fascination this causes is based on the fact that the image is a reflection of something real; if, by some absurdity, only the reflection existed, there would be no enchantment, because of man’s clear notion that if the water were stirred the beauty would vanish. However, in the case where something real is mirrored on the surface of the water, the water can be disturbed and nothing will happen to the object of the reflection; the building will continue to exist unaltered.

This is truly the role of the symbols that Jesus makes use of to instruct His listeners, whether that of the seeds or the sower. Even if these cease to exist, their Creator is eternal, and nothing can change Him. Consequently, in the contemplation of beautiful reflections, nothing could be more beneficial than to lift our gaze to He who is the efficient, formal and final cause of the entire Universe. ◊

 

Notes

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¹ BENEDICT XVI. Gesù di Nazaret [Jesus of Nazareth]. Roma: Rizzoli, 2007, p. 70.

² Cf. MALDONADO, SJ, Fr. Juan de. Comentarios a los cuatro Evangelios – II Evangelios de San Marcos y San Lucas [Commentaries on the Four Gospels – II Gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke]. Madrid: BAC, 1950, p. 98.

³ Obras de San Gregorio [Writings of St. Gregory].Madrid: BAC, 1958, p. 418.

⁴ MALDONADO, SJ, Op. cit., p. 98.

⁵ Idem, p. 101.

⁶ GOMÁ Y TOMÁS, Card. Isidro. El Evangelio explicado – II Año primero y segundo de la vida pública de Jesús [The Gospel Explained – II First and Second Year of Jesus’ Public Life]. Barcelona: Rafael Casulleras, 1930, p. 274.

⁷ MALDONADO, SJ, Op. cit., p. 100.

⁸ Idem, p. 101.

⁹ Apud AQUINAS, St. Thomas. Catena Aurea.

¹⁰ MALDONADO, SJ, Op. cit., p. 99.

¹¹ TUYA, OP, Fr. Manuel de. Biblia Comentada – II Evangelios [Bible Commentaries – II Gospels]. Madrid: BAC, 1964, p. 654.

¹² GOMÁ Y TOMÁS, Op. cit., p. 276-277.

¹³ Cf. FILLION, Louis Claude. Vida de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo – II Vida pública [Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ – II Public Life]. Madrid: Rialp, 2000, p. 188.

¹⁴ GOMÁ Y TOMÁS, Op. cit. p. 277.

¹⁵ Apud ODEN, Thomas C. and HALL, Christopher A. La Biblia comentada por los Padres de la Iglesia – II Nuevo Testamento [Bible Commentary by the Fathers of the Church – II The New Testament]. Madrid: Ciudad Nueva, 2006, p. 117.

¹⁶ Idem, ibidem.

¹⁷ Idem, ibidem.

¹⁸ Epitres et Evangiles avec des explications  – Tome I [Epistles and Gospels with Explanations – Volume I]. Paris: Jean Mariette, 1727, p. 246.

¹⁹ Apud AQUINAS, St. Thomas. Catena Aurea.

²⁰ GOMÁ Y TOMÁS, Op. cit., p. 277.