6th Sunday of the Year (A)

Reflections for liturgical years 2014 (A), 2015 (B), and 2016 (C)

February 16, 2014
Liturgical readings
Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20
Psalm 119
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Matthew 5:17-37

"Unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees..."


To be Catholic involves more than just obeying God's commanments. It also means following the Lord's counsels in the gospels: counsels that lead to practice virtue. The counsels are more than just the basic morality. More than just obeying the command not to kill and not to commit adultery. It involves practicing not to grow angry that can lead to sin. Not to kill is a command of God in the Ten Commandments; not to grow angry that leads to sin is a counsel from Jesus. This direction to progress in the practice of virtue, is similar to the command against adultery. Jesus counsels strictly to avoid occasions where the eyes can lead to sin in one's heart.


St. Francis de Sales speaks about the counsel on anger in his book, "Introduction to the Devout Life". He writes:

'It is better simply to refuse all entry to anger - however just - rather than give access to it, however little it may be...because before you know it, if you give access, it might become as big as a stump'.

From out of the core of one's heart, all desires and actions flow towards others. The Lord Jesus and St. Francis de Sales are right in saying that letting anger enter one's hearts can lead anyone into serious sin. It must be checked by spiritual discipline and not left unchecked in its early stages.

The gospel counsel on anger and impurity involves not only obeying the Ten Commandments and the rules of the Church. It means obeying God's will from the heart. Jesus and His gospel reveals to us pathways to holiness. But following Jesus does not mean we can obey at once. It is a direction of practice and discipline one takes with the Holy Spirit as Advocate in the Church and her sacraments. If one falls from grace once in a while, we can always pick up our hearts gently, and with trust in God, begin the task of following Him again.

Scripture quotes from the Sunday readings:
Immense is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing (Sirach 15)
You have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept (Psalm 119)
God has revealed this wisdom to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians)
Unless our holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees we shall
not enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 5)

Four Basic Means of Acquiring Christ, Divine Wisdom According to Montfort

St. Louis-Marie of Montfort and His Spirituality

The Four Basic Means of Acquiring Christ, Divine Wisdom According to the Teachings of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort


St. Louis-Marie de Montfort lived in the years 1673-1716 A.D. In his missionary years, Montfort conducted numerous parish missions all over France. These missions eventually led to the founding of three religious congregations: the Company of Mary, the Daughters of Wisdom and the Brothers of St. Gabriel. All congregations follow Montfort's teachings and spirituality.

The basic spiritual intuition of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort is that Jesus is the Divine Wisdom from which no earthly knowledge nor philosphy can equal. This intuition is based on a passage in Scripture from the letter to the Corinthians: "For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" [1 Corinthians 1:22-24].

As St. Louis-Marie de Montfort was caught up with this truth, he now gives four means and ways of acquiring Christ, Divine Wisdom, in Christian life.

Four Means of Acquiring Christ, Divine Wisdom

• Ardent desire for wisdom
• Constant and continuous prayer
• Universal mortification - self-denial and renouncing the world and the flesh
• A loving and genuine devotion to the Blessed Virgin

First means: Ardent desire


According to St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, the first means for acquiring Divine Wisdom is to have an ardent desire for it. This is basic to anything we want to acquire in spiritual life or temporal life. To have an ardent desire will increase the motivation to search for that which all hearts want. Following this basic logic, St. Louis-Marie de Montfort translates this truth: if one does not hunger, thirst or ardently desire Christ, divine Wisdom, then it is not likely one will be able to be in union with Him of wisdom.

Second means: Continuous prayer


The second means taught by St. Louis-Marie de Montfort is a truth also based in the gospel. In a gospel passage, Jesus said that all one needs to do is to ask, and you shall receive; knock, and the door shall be opened up to you; seek, and you shall find. And one should not desist or give up on prayer, to ask, to knock, and to seek. To persevere in prayer is important if one is to receive what God promises. There is a parable that illustrates the importance of perseverance in prayer. This parable tells the story of a man who had a visit from a friend near midnight. That friend needed loaves of bread. But the man was already in bed with his family, and has his residence all locked up. So he said "no". But because of the persistence of his friend, he acceded to the request, and gave his friend the loaves he needed. Also there is a gospel saying: "If we who are sinful and evil, know how to give good things to our children, how much more will the ever Goodness of the Father give His most Holy Spirit to those who ask Him."

Third means: Universal mortification


St. Louis-Marie de Montfort belongs to the classic tradition of sanctity that truly believes in the teaching: "if you wish to follow Me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me [even to Calvary]". Montfort teaches plainly that if one follows the wisdom of the flesh, the wisdom of the world, and the wisdom proferred by the Evil One, then one will not for certain acquire Jesus, the Divine Wisdom of one's life. What is important is self-denial - a self-denial that crucifies one's flesh of its base desires, and renouncing everything in the world that goes against the wisdom of Christ. So it is important to resist the temptations to earthly power, the flesh, the acquisition of excessive wealth. For these can weaken one's strength against the virtues of humility, purity and greed. The liturgical season of Lent can help anyone assess that which truly matters in life: a way of life that is responsible and in the service of God (in work, life and family). And to avoid all else that can hinder one's acquiring of Christ, Divine Wisdom.

Fourth means: A true, genuine and loving devotion to Mary

This is St. Louis-Marie de Montfort classic means of obtaining Christ, Divine Wisdom. He teaches how important to make one's devotion to Mary true and genuine. He stresses this because of his awareness to false devotions - those which do not lead to commitment to Christ as Eternal Wisdom and Divine Wisdom. For St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, true devotion to Mary is a devotion that makes Christ as the object of the devotion and one that leads to make a decisive desire to consecrate one's whole self and life - past, present and future - to the will of God through the hands of the Blessed Mother. For St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, this true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, is the greatest means of acquiring Divine Wisdom. Just as Mary said YES to the Lord at the Annunciation, and received in her womb the Son of God, so she is generously willing to give Christ, divine Wisdom, to all who ask it from her.

St. Bernadette Soubirous & the Patron Saints of France

St. Bernadette Soubirous and the Patron Saints of France

Patron Saints

Catholic tradition assigns a patron saint as a name at baptism and also at confirmation. This practice still prevails and is highly recommended by the Church and many religious educators.

Besides patron saints as names for individuals, saints are also adopted and appointed by popes as patrons of four groups: (1) parishes and other Church institutions; (2) for dioceses; (3) countries; and (4) a wide variety of trades and professions. It was Pope Pius XII who particularly fostered this practice.

For France as a nation, many patron saints have been assigned: Our Lady of the Assumption, St. Denis, St. Bernadette Soubirous, St. Joan of Arc, St. Martin of Tours, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Remigius.

St. Bernadette Soubirous

Her feast day is celebrated every February 11. Born in Lourdes, France, St. Bernadette lived in abject poverty with her parents. Uneducated, she suffered from asthma. On February 11, 1858 A.D., while collecting firewood with two other girls on the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes, she heard the sound of a strong wind. This led her to see a cave filled with light. That light was an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After seeing the vision, she reported it to others, but her report provoked skepticism. Still, St. Bernadette continued and persisted in her visits to the Blessed Mother in the cave from February 18 up to March 4. In one of her visits, Mary asked St. Bernadette to pray for the conversion of sinners, and to tell the priests to build a chapel at the site. Because of St. Bernadette's witness, the Church authorities eventually believed and soon Lourdes became one of the great pilgrimage centers of modern Christendom. The shrine at Lourdes attract millions of visitors every year. And miracles of healing are being reported at the shrine, for the waters of the spring are miraculous - causing healing of both body and soul. St. Bernadette died on April 16, 1879 A.D. at the age of thirty-five. Her body remains incorrupt to this day attesting to the great power of God's grace.

St. Denis

October 9 is the feast day of St. Denis, bishop and martyr. What is known of St. Denis is his birth in Italy and his commission by Pope Fabian to be a missionary to Gaul in 250 A.D. As St. Denis performed his mission in Gaul, he converted many people to the Christian faith. He was made the first bishop of Paris. With the help of his companion priest, St. Rusticus, and the deacon, St. Eleutherius, St. Denis converted many inhabitants around Paris. Since not all within the environs of Paris were Christian, St. Denis and his two companions were arrested. All three were imprisoned and beheaded on October 9 near Paris during the persecution of Christians by Decius. The bodies of these three martyrs were thrown into the Seine River, but soon recovered by their converts. All three were given a Christian burial. A chapel was built over their tomb and later became the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Denis. This also became the burial place of the Kings of France.

St. Joan of Arc

A third patron saint of France is St. Joan of Arc. Her feast day is celebrated every May 30. As a young girl, Joan received heavenly messages from voices she heard. These voices from God called her to lead the army of France against the British, and help the King of France reconquer the kingdom. St. Joan was victorious in her battles, but was captured by the British and burned to the stake as a "witch". They believed that the voices Bernadette heard were from the Evil One. After Bernadette's martyrdom at the stake, her mother worked to reverse the charge against Joan. Eventually, Joan was considered innocent of all the accusations and charges that caused her martyrdom. She was canonized in 1920 A.D.

Other patron saints of France

The other patron saints of France are: Our Lady of the Assumption; St. Martin of Tours, an outstanding pioneer of Western monasticism before St. Benedict; St. Therese of Lisieux, "the saint of the little way"; and St. Remigius, a bishop held in great veneration for his holiness, learning, and miracles.