My dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ; somewhere in the second week of the month-long Ignatian silent retreat, the retreatant is asked to contemplate two standards. The standard of Our Lord on the one side, and that of Lucifer, Prince of this world on the other. Arrayed alongside these two standards are those who do battle under these standards. One the one hand, St. Ignatius asks us to imagine, the armies of Lucifer, arrayed in their horses, fine battle armour and weapons. On the other side, the first reading for this fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time help us imagine the armies of Our Lord, who do battle under a commander who is:
meek, and riding on an ass
Those who belong to this world, and the fleshy mentality that St. Paul warns us against in the second reading for this Sunday, would laugh ourselves silly at the sight of such silliness. Sword and spear, chariot and horse, battle tanks – and AK47s if you like – against a man on an ass?
But, as St. Paul teaches us,
we are not debtors to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh.
Indeed not, and biblical history teaches us that the logic of the world, can be overturned by those who do battle in the spirit. Recollect the episode from the first book of Samuel (17) where David the shepherd came to do battle with Goliath the giant armed with helmet, a coat of mail, a spear, and a mighty sword, with just five stones and a sling. Goliath was not just amused, he was outraged and promised to make short work of this impudent shepherd.
My dear brothers and sisters, those five pebbles were representative of the five blessed wounds of Our Lord which would win us our salvation. Just one stone would have been enough to finish off the Philistine. Indeed, there was no need for Our Lord to have suffered those five, and more wounds; one would have sufficed. But He went all the way to win for us the superabundant grace necessary for us in our battles with Lucifer, against the fleshy logic of the world.
Too often, dear brothers and sisters, we rely on, and commit to, the logic of the world. We place all our faith and trust in the shiny things of the world, the little gifts the Devil leaves us, that drag us to hell, and forget about the meek and humble Lord we are called to serve, in whom we should trust.
Of course, in many ways, it is natural to sin. After all, to the naked, and natural, eye, it is the power of the world which will triumph. We see the evidence of this worldly triumph all around us, EVERY SINGLE DAY! And yet, as St. Paul teaches us today:
if you live according to the flesh,
you will die,
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.
We Christians do not live for the short life in this material, and natural, world; we work for eternal life and must have a spiritual and supernatural vision. It is by the spirit of Our Risen Lord alone that we can live. These are the things that have been hidden from the wise (of this world) and revealed to us, who are children of our Father in heaven.
My dear brothers and sisters, when a priest celebrates Mass he does not simply throw on his vestments and march out to the altar. There is a prayer for every vestment he dons, and the prayer for the chasuble is particularly relevant to us today:
Domine, qui dixisti:
Iugum meum suave est et onus meum leve:
fac, ut istud portare sic valeam,
quod consequar tuam gratiam. Amen.
O Lord, who has said,
"My yoke is sweet and My burden light,"
grant that I may so carry it as to merit Thy grace. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, this grace has been won for us by the precious wounds of Our Lord. His yoke is sweet and His burden light, because He offers us His grace to help us carry the cross that has been given to us. Without His help, those crosses will be unbearable, and we will succumb to the temptations of the world.
An anonymous Christian of the early Church observed: “the weight of earthly masters gradually destroys the strength of their servants, but the weight of Christ rather helps the one who bears it, because we do not bear grace; grace bears us. It is not for us to help grace, but rather grace has been given to aid us.”
May Our Lord grant us the grace to carry our burdens, choose wisely, and reject the temptations of the world.
(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the parish church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Caranzalem on 5 July 2026.)
(Image reference: Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Claudio Coello, circa 1680 – circa 1683, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Valdemoro – Madrid.)
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