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From: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

He is sustained by hope of heaven

[6] So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the
body we are away from the Lord, [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight. [8] We are
of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with
the Lord. [9] So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please
him. [10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each
one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.

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Commentary:

6. St Alphonsus says apropos of this verse: “This is not our fatherland; we are
here, as it were, passing through, like pilgrims [. . .]. Our fatherland is heaven,
which we have to merit by God’s grace and our own good actions. Our home is
not the one we live in at present, which serves only as a temporary dwelling; our
home is eternity” (Shorter Sermons, XVI).

However, as St Paul himself shows elsewhere (cf. Acts 16:16-40; 22:22-29; Rom
13:1-7; 2 Thess 3:6:13), this “being away” from the Lord does not mean that a
Christian should not concern himself with the building up of the earthly city. On
the contrary, he should do everything he can to build a world which is more and
more like what God wants it to be. Vatican II, for example, exhorts “Christians,
as citizens of both cities, to perform their duties faithfully in the spirit of the Gos-
pel. It is a mistake to think that, because we have here no lasting city, but seek
the city which is to come (cf. Heb 13:14), we are entitled to shirk our responsibi-
lities; this is to forget that, by our faith, we are bound all the more to fulfil these
responsibilities according to the vocation of each one (cf. 2 Thess 3:6-13; Eph 4:
28) [.. .]. The Christian who shirks his temporal duties shirks his duties towards
his neighbour, neglects God himself and endangers his eternal salvation. Let
Christians follow the example of Christ who worked as a craftsman; let them be
proud of the opportunity to carry out their earthly activity in such a way as to inte-
grate human, domestic, professional, scientific and technical enterprises with reli-
gious values, under whose supreme direction all things are ordered to the glory
of God” (Gaudium et spes, 43).

7. St Paul here speaks of faith as light which shows us the way as we progress
towards eternal life. However, when we reach our home in heaven we will no long-
er need the light of faith, because God himself and Christ will be our light (cf. Rev
21:23).

8-10. Here we can see the Apostle’s firm conviction that he will meet the Lord the
moment he dies. In other passages of Sacred Scripture the same truth is stated
(cf. Lk 16:22-23; 23:43), and the Magisterium of the Church has defined that souls
will receive their eternal reward or punishment immediately after death — or after
they pass through purgatory, if they have to do so (cf. Benedict XII, “Benedictus
Deus, Dz-Sch”, 1000).

This sentence of reward or punishment — given at the particular judgment and ra-
tified at the general judgment at the end of time — is based on the person’s merits
gained during his life on earth, for once he has died he can no longer merit. In
view of this judgment St Paul exhorts us to do everything we can in this life to
please the Lord. “Does your soul not burn with the desire to make your Father-
God happy when he has to judge you?” (St J. Escrivá, “The Way”, 746).

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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.

From: Mark 4:26-34

Parables of the Seed and of the Mustard Seed

[26] And He (Jesus) said, “The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter
seed upon the ground, [27] and should sleep and rise night and day, and the
seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. [28] The earth produces of it-
self, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the
grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come.”

[30] And He said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what para-
ble shall we use for it? [31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown
upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; [32] yet when it is sown
it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The End of the Parables Discourse

[33] With many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to
hear it; [34] He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to His own
disciples He explained everything.

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Commentary:

26-29. Farmers spare no effort to prepare the ground for the sowing; but once the
grain is sown there is nothing more they can do until the harvest; the grain deve-
lops by itself. Our Lord uses this comparison to describe the inner strength that
causes the Kingdom of God on earth to grow up to the day of harvest (cf. Joel 3:
13 and Revelation 14:15), that is, the day of the Last Judgment.

Jesus is telling His disciples about the Church: the preaching of the Gospel, the
generously sown seed, will unfailingly yield its fruit, independently of who sows or
who reaps: it is God who gives the growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9). It will all hap-
pen “he knows not how”, without men being fully aware of it.

The Kingdom of God also refers to the action of grace in each soul: God silently
works a transformation in us, whether we sleep or watch, causing resolutions to
take shape in our soul—resolutions to be faithful, to surrender ourselves, to res-
pond to grace—until we reach “mature manhood” (cf. Ephesians 4:13). Even
though it is necessary for man to make this effort, the real initiative lies with God,
“because it is the Holy Spirit who, with His inspirations, gives a supernatural tone
to our thoughts, desires and actions. It is He who leads us to receive Christ’s tea-
ching and to assimilate it in a profound way. It is He who gives us the light by
which we perceive our personal calling and the strength to carry out all that God
expects of us. If we are docile to the Holy Spirit, the image of Christ will be found
more and more fully in us, and we will be brought closer every day to God the
Father. ‘For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God’
(Romans 8:14)” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 135).

30-32. The main meaning of this parable has to do with the contrast between the
great and the small. The seed of the Kingdom of God on earth is something very
tiny to begin with (Luke 12:32; Acts 1:15); but it will grow to be a big tree. Thus
we see how the small initial group of disciples grows in the early years of the
Church (cf Acts 2:47; 6:7; 12:24), and spreads down the centuries and becomes
a great multitude “which no man could number” (Revelation 7:9). This mysterious
growth which our Lord refers to also occurs in each soul: “the Kingdom of God is
in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21); we can see a prediction of this in the words of
Psalm 92:12: “The righteous grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” To allow the mercy
of God to exalt us, to make us grow, we must make ourselves small, humble
(Ezekiel 17:22-24; Luke 18:9-14).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.