9781644135945

The Christmas Cycle
of the kingdom of God and the proponents of grace, virtue, and holiness, are subject to the
divine power and must serve the ends of the divine King and His plan of salvation. “The
Lord hath reigned” (Introit).
The Church is confident in the power of Christ. “Adore God, all you His angels; Sion heard
and was glad” (Introit). In her struggle against the powers of evil, the Church implores God:
“Since Thy family depends entirely on the hope of Thy heavenly grace, defend it always by
Thy protection” (Collect). The Church has a perfect right to depend on the benevolent
providence of God, for it is God’s family. Her children are the children of God and partakers
of the divine life. At her head stands Christ, who prays and intercedes for His members. By
baptism the faithful are engrafted on Christ and become members of one mystical body, by
which they are sustained and nourished. This union of the members with Christ is as vigorous
and as real as the union of Christ with the Father; it also effects a union of the members
with one another, which is expressed by acts of compassion, by goodness toward our fellow
men, by sharing our goods with them, by patiently bearing the faults of others. Our union
with God is expressed by the joy and gratitude so evident in the hymns and psalms which
the soul sings to God, and by a life of complete dedication to God through Christ Jesus our
Lord (Epistle). Indeed, we acknowledge the words of the Epistle thus: “The Gentiles shall
fear Thy name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth Thy glory” (Gradual). We praise God,
and in love and patience we suffer the cockle that springs up about us.
By the wheat we understand those who follow Christ the King, that is, the baptized. The
cockle represents those who are opposed to God and to Christ, the enemies of God and His
Church, and even those who, although they are Christians, do not lead a true Christian life,
or who do not live according to their faith. “Suffer both to grow until the harvest” (Gospel).
The Lord bears with us patiently and lovingly, and we should imitate Him. We must be
compassionate and forgiving, knowing that “the Lord hath reigned.” He is Lord and has
power even over the cockle, and He knows how to make it serve the kingdom of God and
the good and salvation of souls (Gospel). We respond to the sentiments of the Gospel: “I
believe.” “The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength; the right hand of the Lord hath
exalted me” (Offertory). “The Lord hath reigned.”
With a firm faith in the omnipotence of the divine King, we approach to make our offering.
We offer to the Father the sacrifice of propitiation, and He releases us from our sins and
“sanctifies us in mind and body” (Secreta) because of our sacrifice. At the time of Holy
Communion the Father sows the good seed of the Eucharist in His field, which is the Church
and the souls of men. When the seed has sprung up, it becomes apparent that the enemy
has sown his seed also. But the wheat of the Eucharist sown by the divine King gives the
Church and the Christian soul the strength to withstand the encroachments of the cockle,
the attacks of all enemies from within and without. The Church and the Christian soul will
have a most certain proof of the wisdom, power, and strength of Christ, in the continuous
growth and the unconquerable fruitfulness of the Church. They “all wondered at these
things, which proceeded from the mouth of God” (Communion). All will wonder at the
power of the words of Christ which are spoken by the lips of the priest, “This is My body;
this is My blood.”
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