CHILDREN WITH HEAVENLY MYSTERIES

SUNDAY, FOURTENTH WEEK IN ORDERINARY TIME

Zech 9:9-10; Ps 145:1-2,8-11,13-14; Rom 8:9,11-13; Mt 11:25-30

Revelation of Hidden Mysteries

The salvation of God, which is fully delivered in the Christian Gospel, is couched in deep mysteries. Why is that the case? This is due to the spiritual nature of human salvation. The human problem of sin is in the spiritual realm; the solution of the problem is therefore spiritual and packaged in such a way to reach the spiritual part of the human person and apply the remedy therein. Sin is a spiritual problem that wrecked the spiritual foundation of the human person. The human intellect (mind) and will are spiritual faculties; as such, they are the seat of our spiritual activities. Our spiritual foundation and structure are established through their operations. Our will, most importantly, must desire and unite with the truth conceived in our intellect to construct a solid and eternal structure where God lives within us. But our intellect has sufficient light to penetrate the material creation in our mortal existence. We need divine light to pass from material creation to divine reality. Hence, our wills also require divine grace or support to choose what is truly good, rather than the seemingly good. The commandment given to man and woman in the Garden of Eden, not to separate themselves from God in moral decisions, rests on this dependency of our nature on God. Our first parents fell into sin when they did otherwise.

God subsequently packaged our salvation to address this fault rooted in our spiritual makeup. The prophecy of Zechariah offers a mysterious image of the Saviour of the human race. The prophecy is addressed to the daughter of Zion or Jerusalem, but applies duly to the Church of Jesus Christ. “Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem! See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The image of a victorious king that is not riding on a white horse or entering the city with pomp and pageantry, but on the colt of a donkey. The donkey is a beast that bears burdens and moves slowly and steadily. The donkey is known for obedience, peace, and commitment. The image of a colt of a donkey contains rich spiritual meanings. The victory of the king of Jerusalem would be by humble submission to truth and the Father’s will and not by anything forceful or hasty. His very meekness and submission to God would be his most effective weapon to banish the forces that enslave Jerusalem in darkness. Hence, we hear: “He will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished.” He comes with peace, and not with war, in our usual understanding of war.  

Though he comes peacefully, he wages spiritual war in his advance. Chariots, bows, swords, are not useful in his kind of war, but humility, steadfastness, submission, obedience, and prayerful vigilance are dreaded weapons of spiritual war, with which he extends his kingdom. “His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.” The effectiveness of the above-listed weapons rests on their spiritual root. These are spiritual weapons because they are structures that modify the operations of our intellect and will, coordinating and subordinating them to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are spiritual structures forged by the Son of God and effectively employed in his human nature to rescue us from spiritual slavery to the forces of evil. Saint Paul directs us to be spiritually minded to benefit from the victory of the king of Jerusalem. “Your interests are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to him.” We know we have the Spirit of Christ by possessing these weapons for the destruction of evil structures.

To live a life characterised by these structures is to live a spiritual life in the Christian sense. Therefore, Paul continues: “So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” The misdeeds of the body are symbolised by those physical weapons the king of Jerusalem banished at his advance: aggression, hatred, anger, fighting, disobedience, etc. Those who live with these unspiritual structures have not received the revelation of the mysteries of the King of Jerusalem. “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.” The spiritual weapons and victory belong to the children of God. Their strength and authority have a single source; namely, their submission to the will of the Father. In confirmation of this, the Lord says: “Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” The rest he promises is a heavenly rest, which we commence here by living in union with him.

Let us pray: O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin you bestow eternal gladness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever