Whatsoever he soweth, he reapeth: Meditations for the 15th Sunday after Trinity

Epistle: Galatians 5:25-6:10 Gospel: St Matthew 6:24-34

“God is not mocked” proclaims St Paul in today’s epistle. Because of the exalted nature of his creed, because of the truth of his profession, and because of the purity to which his religion ever calls him, the Christian’s life is constantly beset by the dangers of temptations, falls, and corruption. The effulgent calling of those who have been washed in the saving blood of the Lamb is bounded by darkness visible and invisible. The devil, knowing full how man’s free will is swayed this way or the other, ever intends to make a mockery of this calling by putting all sorts of dangers in our way, by facilitating the occasions of sin. Very often, the devil does not have to do much, for, we, of our own depraved and vitiated wills, will fall into that which makes a mockery of God’s word.

This is warfare, within and without. Life’s cares and worries sometime overtake us, the pursuit of wealth and honour blind us, and we slacken in the vigilance required in the battle against the enemy. And from this lack of vigilance, we fail to remember God, and to purify our intention by renewing acts of love, faith and hope in him. And from this failure to remember and to trust God, we imagine ourselves agents free from the constraint of the natural and divine laws; we would fain create the moral standards by which we would judge ourselves. And that which appeared formerly under the ugly guise of sin, now seems to be the result of deliberate and rational choice, clothed with the respectable mantle of individual maturity. Thus, sin is normalised, and becomes a habit, or, indeed, a vice.

Jean-Baptiste Regnault, "Freedom or Death"

But God is not mocked: “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Let our harvest, then, be one of compunction, contrition, tears and supplication. We need to return to him from the self-imposed captivity of our sinful habits, from the self-imposed exile in the land of sin. We need to pray for repentance, conversion, tears, and the grace of penance; and remember and rehearse our baptismal vows. Above all, we must exercise ourselves in trusting God and in his promises, and eschew the service of Mammon. For God will take care of our worldly needs forasmuch as he has already provided for our heavenly ones. 

Evelyn de Morgan, "The Worship of Mammon"

Let us conclude by offering our prayers for the sake of the Church, whose visible institution is being traversed by revelations of scandals that affect the highest ranks in the hierarchy, using the words of the collect: Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy perpetual mercy: and because the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall; keep us by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ thy son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.