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repetition of the Books of the Kings, are set aside, and
the reading of the latter is continued until the begin
ning of August. There is therefore a two-fold lesson to
be drawn from the liturgy of the sixth Sunday after
Pentecost. First of all, David s lapse into grievous sin is
a warning, even to the most favoured souls, that they
must ever preserve a wholesome fear of sin. In this
life a fall is always possible and the higher the soul
has advanced in perfection the more terrible, the more
lamentable is such a fall. We also learn from David to
humble ourselves when we have thus fallen, to confess
our sin and to testify our repentance.
The Mass for this Sunday teaches us what are the
means the Church makes use of TO RESTORE AND TO
MAINTAIN SUPERNATURAL LIFE in souls. The multipli
cation of the loaves related in the Gospel is a symbol
of the Sacraments as the source of grace.
The gentiles, says Saint Ambrose, commenting on the
Gospel of this Sunday, were represented by the woman
suffering from an issue of blood whom our Lord had
cured but a short time before. She had followed the
divine Master, wearing herself out, so to say, during those
three days which recall the three years of His public
ministry that she might hear the truths of salvation.
The seven loaves multiplied in order to feed the hun
gry multitude represent the seven Sacraments, the source
of supernatural life for souls. Our Lord Himself works
the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, for He
alone, as the Son of God, equal in all things to His Father,
gives grace. The apostles distribute the loaves which
have been multiplied, to the assembled crowd, to teach
us that they and their successors have been appointed
to administer the Sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ.
The fragments which remained after all were satisfied,