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| After the worst persecution of the Church, Rome herself became Catholic under Constantine the Great |
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time,
Year A
July 17th, 2011
Matthew 13:24-43
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that
a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch
was leavened.
In today’s
Gospel, Christ gives us three parables by which he encourages to persevere in
the face of evil. In each of these three parables – the weeds and wheat, the
mustard seed, and the yeast which leavens that batch of dough – our Savior
gives us some indication of answer to the great and mysterious question: “Why is there evil in the world?”
I would like to
focus on the parable of the little bit
of yeast which is mixed with the three measures of wheat flour to leaven the
whole batch. We must understand something about the imagery which the Lord
uses – the visual is of a woman mixing in the yeast and then kneading and
beating down the dough. It is precisely
this act of violence, this continuous beating down which makes the whole batch
to rise.
The point of the
parable is this: As the violent force of the woman beating down the dough
causes the yeast to leaven the whole batch, so too the evil in the world actually contributes to the increase and
spread of goodness. It is not merely that good and evil co-exist until the
end of time, but the evil is used by God to promote the good.
This is borne
out in the life of the Church: The more
the Church is persecuted, rejected and ridiculed, the more the Church will grow
and the more the faith will spread.
I do not mean
this only as a theological or spiritual truth, it is also an historical reality. Even without faith, simply
looking at history, we can see Christ’s parable being fulfilled.
Consider, for
example, the early Church. In the first days, the Church was terribly
persecuted by the Roman Empire. This persecution was intense – but the more the
Romans attacked the Church the more the faith spread.
This persecution
reached its climax under the emperor Diocletion at the end of the 3rd
century: under his reign the Churched suffered the most cruel and organized
attack which she had ever faced.
But after this greatest of all
persecutions came the emperor Constantine, who not only converted to Christianity himself, but made
Christianity the official religion of the Empire. Behold the wonder of it all: After the worst persecution which the
Church had ever seen, Rome awoke to find itself Christian!
Similarly, consider that Rome fell to the
pagan barbarians of northern Europe.
Now, every time in history when one people conquers another, the victors impose
their religion upon the vanquished. But what happed when the pagan barbarians
sacked Rome? They converted to Christianity!
This is a real
miracle of history: Conquering Rome, the
barbarians were conquered by Christianity! Nothing like this has ever happened
before.
Behold, the parable
of the yeast and the dough working itself in history.
Yet, the Lord
Jesus has something more to say: This parable isn’t simply about how the true
Faith and the Catholic Church will conquer and convert all peoples and nations.
The Savior is not only the Lord of history, he is also the Lord of your heart
and of mine.
The parable of
the yeast and the dough also is meant to encourage us personally in our
journey.
Do you feel stretched too thin? Are you suffering? Is the life of faith sometimes a struggle and difficult? Perhaps we
sometimes feel like we can’t go on much further.
It is precisely
in these times of difficulty – so the Lord tells us – precisely when we are
beaten down and struggling, that is when the grace of Christ is most effective
in us.
We say: “Lord,
please take away my struggles and my temptations.” But he tells us: “The dough must be kneaded and suffer
violence, only then with the yeast leaven the whole batch!”
So do not be
discouraged when things are tough. Do not become despondent when you suffer
temptations or when you seem to take two steps back for every one forward.
Trust rather in the grace of Christ!
Think of it: Once the yeast is in the dough, you can’t
get it out! The grace of Christ Jesus is in you, if only you are faithful he
will enliven you, he will win you over.
The good Lord
conquered the Roman Empire, can he not conquer your soul? He defeated and
overcame nations and peoples, shall he not win you to himself?
Of course he
will! What have you to be discouraged about? Christ died for you, will he not give you everything else besides?
We must only
keep our hearts and minds focused on Christ our Savior. Humbled by our
weaknesses, but confident in his love, we shall persevere through all things.
And, though your
faith may seem like only a little mustard seed, if only you look to Jesus and
persevere in his love, that little seed
of your faith shall grow into the great tree of glory in life everlasting.
