http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/08Nov/nov16hay.htm

For the Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost the Propers are taken from the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany. Father Haydock provides in his commentaries the essence of what Christ illustrates in His parables in St. Matthew's Gospel today of the mustard seed and the leavened bread to signify the growth of grace by those who seek the kingdom of Heaven by adhering to God's holy will. This is referenced in St. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians wherein the Apostle speaks of the profit garnered through faith, works, charity with patience and a labor of love. The mustard seed planted in the Holy Land by our Lord has spread its branches to every corner of the world, fulfilling the prophesies of the Old Testament prophets that the Messias will utter in parables things hidden from the foundation of the world.


Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 1: 2-10

2 Grace be to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for you all; making a remembrance of you in our prayers without ceasing,

3 Being mindful of the work of your faith, and labour, and charity, and of the enduring of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father:

    Commentary on Verse 3 The apostle praises the Thessalonians for the progress they had made in the theological virtues, and enumerates the profit they had derived from each. Their faith had produced works; their charity rendered their labor light and easy, and their patience was the fruit of their future hopes, in confidence of which they bore what they had to suffer from their unconverted countrymen. (Estius)

4 Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election:

5 For our gospel hath not been unto you in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness, as you know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes.

    Commentary on Verse 5 In power. The sense is, I have preached the gospel to you, not only in words of persuasion, but have proved it by the power of miracles, in much fullness, or in great abundance. I have also taught you the gospel not by my words only, but by my actions; for you know what kind of a life I led among you. I had no interest but in gaining your souls. And I rejoice to hear you have received it in much power, by the Holy Ghost working within you. (A.) – And in much fullness. Some would have the Greek word to signify in a full assurance; but in the style of the New Testament, it may as well signify a fullness, or plentitude. (Wi.)

6 And you became followers of us, and of the Lord; receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

7 So that you were made a pattern to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.

8 For from you was spread abroad the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia, and in Achaia, but also in every place, your faith which is towards God, is gone forth, so that we need not to speak any thing.

    Commentary on Verse 8 From you was spread abroad the word. The Greek, was sounded about. – In every place. In very many places. (Wi.)

9 For they themselves relate of us, what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God.

10 And to wait for his Son from Heaven (whom he raised up from the dead,) Jesus, who hath delivered us from the wrath to come.


Gospel: St. Matthew 13: 31-35

31 At that time, Jesus spoke to the multitudes this parable: The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.

32 Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof.

    Commentary on Verse 32 The least of all seeds. That is, it is one of the least seeds; but in hot countries it is observed to grow to a considerable height, and to become a bush or a little tree. (Wi.) – The gospel of Christ, compared in this verse to the grain of mustard seed, has indeed little show of grandeur and human greatness. Saint Paul calls it a scandal to the Jєω, and a stumbling block to the Gentile. But Jesus Christ here assures us, that when it has been spread and promulgated by his ambassadors, viz. the apostles, it shall surpass every other mode of instruction both in fame and extent. (Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine)

33 Another parable He spoke to them: The kingdom of Heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.

    Commentary on Verse 34 In three measures. Sata, the word here used, was a particular Hebrew measure, which corresponds not to any particular measure that we make use of, and therefore I have put measures, as it is in other English translations. See Walton de Ponderibus & mensuris, before his first tome, p. 42. (Wi.) – It was the Seah of the Jєωs, the third part of the Epha, and contained about ten pints, and appears to be the ordinary quantity they baked at a time. (V.) – By the woman here mentioned, Saint Jerome understands the Church gathered from all nations; or the power and wisdom of God, according to Saint Augustine.

34 All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes: and without parables He did not speak to them.

35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.

    Commentary on Verse 35 By the prophet. It is taken from Psalm 77: 2. Saint Jerome remarks that many copies have, Isaias, the prophet, but supposes that the evangelist wrote, Asaph, the prophet, to whom the title of this psalm seems to attribute it; but it was probably chanted by Asaph, and composed by David, who is simply characterized under the name of prophet, because he prophesied in composing his canticles. (V.)

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2017.htm#article2

Article 2. Whether command belongs to irrational animals?

Objection 1. It would seem that command belongs to irrational animals. Because, according to Avicenna, "the power that commands movement is the appetite; and the power that executes movement is in the muscles and nerves." But both powers are in irrational animals. Therefore command is to be found in irrational animals.

Objection 2. Further, the condition of a slave is that of one who receives commands. But the body is compared to the soul as a slave to his master, as the Philosopher says (Polit. i, 2). Therefore the body is commanded by the soul, even in irrational animals, since they are composed of soul and body.

Objection 3. Further, by commanding, man has an impulse towards an action. But impulse to action is to be found in irrational animals, as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii, 22). Therefore command is to be found in irrational animals.

On the contrary, Command is an act of reason, as stated above (Article 1). But in irrational animals there is no reason. Neither, therefore, is there command.

I answer that, To command is nothing else than to direct someone to do something, by a certain motion of intimation. Now to direct is the proper act of reason. Wherefore it is impossible that irrational animals should command in any way, since they are devoid of reason.

Reply to Objection 1. The appetitive power is said to command movement, in so far as it moves the commanding reason. But this is only in man. In irrational animals the appetitive power is not, properly speaking, a commanding faculty, unless command be taken loosely for motion.

Reply to Objection 2. The body of the irrational animal is competent to obey; but its soul is not competent to command, because it is not competent to direct. Consequently there is no ratio there of commander and commanded; but only of mover and moved.

Reply to Objection 3. Impulse to action is in irrational animals otherwise than in man. For the impulse of man to action arises from the directing reason; wherefore his impulse is one of command. On the other hand, the impulse of the irrational animal arises from natural instinct; because as soon as they apprehend the fitting or the unfitting, their appetite is moved naturally to pursue or to avoid. Wherefore they are directed by another to act; and they themselves do not direct themselves to act. Consequently in them is impulse but not command.