The Collect Prayer for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost sums up our desire for an increase of the theological virtues and a desire to love God as He wants. For this, we should pray the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity daily because these virtues are essential for gaining heaven and we can never have enough of them. The Gospel reminds us that we must be grateful to God for His gifts as the leperous Samaritan was after Christ healed him.
The Transfiguration of Our Lord came six days after St. Peter’s confession of Faith in the Son of God. Then Christ took the three leading apostles up a mountain where He permitted them to glimpse His divinity while He spoke to Moses and Elias. This was to encourage the apostles for the trials ahead. We too are meant to be strengthened by this feast and to realize that everything leads us to our true inheritance in heaven.
Christ’s first words to His Apostles on Easter night were Peace be to you. By this He re-assured them that He had forgiven them for abandoning Him during His Passion and Death. We must imitate Our Lord and not hold grudges. Also, the Introit for the feast of St. Pius V begins “If you love Me, Simon Peter, feed My sheep”. These words were spoken by Our Lord after Easter and we learn their exegesis and how they fit the life of this great pope.
The words of today’s gospel: “I am the Good Shepherd” have a significant meaning for those of us “sheep” who look for protection and guidance from their Shepherd. There is also a reference to the last three chapters of the Book of Isaiah – prophecies relating specifically to the coming of Christ which curiously were deleted from a version of the Old Testament. One can only wonder why this was done. In any case, we should all remember the words of Jesus: “I know mine and mine know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.”
Low Sunday is the culmination of the eight-day celebration of the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The term Low is intended to indicate the contrast between it and the great Feast one week earlier of Easter Sunday, certainly the greatest of all liturgical feasts. The Octave Day of Easter is considered part of the feast, though to a lower degree. The entire celebration of Easter is meant to give us confidence that we too can one day share in the same Resurrection of the body if we hold fast to the Truths of Faith and the power of Grace over sin that Our Lord won for us. We must have confidence that our path is right and our goal can and will be achieved.
The Son of God became a Man at the Annunciation and so began His priesthood as the mediator between God and men. At the same time, Our Lady became the Mother of God.  This could only take place because, as St. Gabriel the Archangel said, “nothing is impossible with God”. Virginity and Maternity were joined miraculously and the Blessed Mother lived a life of trust in God that made her magnanimous and munificent. Devotion and imitation of her will enable anyone to overcome any challenge in fulfilling God’s Will.
We must settle all disputes we have with our neighbor before we come to the Eucharistic table and to love and care for the souls of our neighbors, whether or not we like them personally.  St. Frances de Sales who had a bad vice, that of an extreme temper, re-channeled the energy from that vice towards the teaching of the faith to thousands.  He wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life and is known today as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Teachers of the Faith.  St. Martina underwent unbelievable torture because she would not renounce her Faith and pay tribute to false gods as demanded by the Emperor.  How many of the saints have shown us similar acts of heroic virtue and steadfast Faith in the history of the Church and what do we give in return?  It is a question we must ask ourselves if we are to be true followers of Christ.  We are then taught of the importance of Faith through today’s Gospel reading where the disciples are caught in a storm with heavy waves which tossed their boat to and fro, threatening to sink it.  The disciples desperately awoke Jesus from His nap begging Him to save them.  He in turn rebuked them for their lack of Faith since He was aboard the boat and would not let harm come to them. Â
The time after the Epiphany continues to show us the revelation of God becoming Man. This is proven in the Gospel by a miracle to the Jews in the leper and to the Gentiles in the centurion’s servant. We are also called during this time to join with the angels in adoring the Incarnate God. Prayer is essential for salvation and faith.
“Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men: for The Lord is nigh.”  These words taken from St. Paul’s epistle to the Philippians for the Third Sunday of Advent may seem strange in today’s times because of all that is wrong in today’s world  However, they are as true now as they were when they were first written because they refer not only to the upcoming Feast of the Nativity but to the Second Coming of Our Lord and Savior at the end of time. We can be joyous because we have already been saved through Baptism.  The promise of what lies ahead for us, if we are faithful, is far greater than any of the problems and sufferings that we endure in this life. The Lord is indeed nigh and all we have to do is recognize His presence in our midst and pray that He keeps us true to our baptismal promises.
The new Liturgical Year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. Liturgy is derived from a Greek word and means public worship. It differs from private prayer in that the ends of adoration, thanksgiving, reparation and petition are united with the entire church and its public prayer. The official prayer of the Mystical Body is then made sublime and sacramental through the presence of Christ. The best example, of course, is the Eucharistic Sacrifice wherein Christ Himself unites his prayer to the Father with our own. But the other sacraments accomplish the same type of worship in their own way – even the sacrament of Penance. The prayers of today’s Mass offer hope in the Final Coming to those who have kept the Faith with humility rather than the judgment of the proud predicted in last Sunday’s scriptural readings. The famous words: “Look up your salvation is at hand” are meant to give us that hope.
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Servants of the Holy Family, a Catholic religious community in Colorado Springs was founded on the Feast of the Holy Family in 1977 and is placed under the patronage of the Sacred Persons of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Read more
