A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. Of course, this is a continuation from yesterday's readings. Our lord said, what does the reign of god resemble? To what shall I liken it? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden.
The seed grew and became a large shrub, and the birds of the air nested in its branches. He went on, to what shall I compare the reign of God? It is like yeast, which a woman took to knead into three measures of flour until the whole mass of dough began to rise. And this is the gospel of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen.
We had a very choice reading this morning from that letter of Paul to the Ephesians, continuing, of course, from yesterday's reading. And this, of course, is the this is the very favorite reading from the New Testament for n o w, those dear ladies. The the the word here which really sets the bomb off for the feminists is that word submissive. When Saint Paul says, wives, be submissive to your husbands. Well, of course, we know we're all democratic.
We're all equal. Who in the heck is gonna be submissive to anybody? You know? It's a fighting word. But whenever I read this, and of course, women hate it, a lot of them do, who who don't think about it or think about much of anything, really.
I think of that good person who tries to tell you that that the bible says there is no god. Does the bible say that there's no god? Yes. It does. It's in one of the psalms.
We used to sing it every Sunday. But they forget what follows. See, this is the old trick. The bible says there is no god, says the fool in his heart. Now you see, language is tricky stuff.
It is very tricky. We call it semantics today. But anybody with a grain of sense knows when you're dealing with words, you're dealing with with very sensitive things. Words are not absolute. They only have meanings which we give them.
They're they're completely, arbitrary, completely arbitrary, except that in a given context, you have to use the words that people will understand. Now this text of Saint Philip remember yesterday's text. Remember, this is only part of a letter. What's the whole letter say? Who were the Ephesians?
Why was Paul writing to them? Think of those forceful words of yesterday of Saint Paul, which I compared to the New York Times and report on Sunday for that great classical contribution of Madonna to Western culture called sex. Paul was writing to these bunch of pagans, but they weren't nearly as pagan as The United States Of America is today. Not nearly so. These people all believed in gods or gods.
Theism or deism is not a religion in The United States as a nation today. Now so you have to take things not take a word or a phrase or even a paragraph. You've got to take a text in its context. Con means with. The bible says there is no god.
It does. But the very next sentence says the fool in his heart. That's a quotation in the bible. That's so it's why it's so important to get an authentic text. Don't believe translations.
Now what is Saint Paul saying? He's saying your married life is the best form of living in this context. And he's saying, look. The whole point of this reading today that we've had is isn't the word submissive. Because supposing I ask you, what does the word submissive mean?
It means to be sent under. Submitere. Well, what the heck does that mean? Well, supposing you go to your late to your your latest dictionary, which is a very good one, incidentally, at Vantage. It's an excellent book.
But, anyway, you'll see all kinds of synonyms for submissive. It simply means under put under or placed under or being under. That's all. But what does it mean? You have to go to the context.
What does Saint Paul say here about marriage? That the wife is the slave of the husband, that she's a chattel of the husband, that that that she simply lives and and moves and has her being at his very whim? Well, what does the text say? Two things I wanted to point out that the text says. I it's there for you to read, and the the Greek is just as clear.
It's even clearer. Husbands should one love their wives as the as as god loves the church. Now what do you think of that? That's how husbands should love their wives, as God loves his church. And then Paul goes on to say, husbands should love their wives as they love their very selves.
How about that? How many marriages would be improved if every husband took those two or even one of them seriously? Just one. That who would care for his wife, his partner, the mother of his children, would care for her as much as he cares for himself. Of course, some husbands don't care for themselves very much.
But this is so you have to take the thing. This is a noble statement. There's nothing here about the enslavement of women. Of course, there's nothing here about democracy either. Because remember, you've never heard of a democratic football team.
You've never had heard of a democratic tennis match of doubles. You've never heard of a democratic crew running a boat. You've never heard of a democratic crew running a railroad engine. There's got to be a hierarchy of what we call authority, and it's not a naughty word. It's not even a three letter word.
There's nothing wrong with authority, but that's only one part of a human relationship. When you don't have authority, you have anarchy. Remember, democracy means the rule of the mob, the unorganized mob. Think of that. Just think of it.
So this text this morning, it's a noble text. No one has to make any apologies for it. If only the person who reads it has some sense and knows they're reading words. And words, as Humpty Dumpty very clearly put it, is who's the who's the master? That's all.
That's all. Words are ab arbitrary oral signs. You make them mean what they wanna mean, and you can make them mean anything you want. Every court of law is doing it when they give a definition. And so this text is a noble text.
There's nothing here degrading to women. Now in this connection, I wanna call to your good attention a recent book, 1991. Let me get I have it written here because the title's a little confused. It's by Diane I mean, Donna Steichen, s t e I c h a. It's the title of it is Ungodly Rage.
Ungodly Rage, The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism, published in 1991. Well, I never pretended to be up on this subject, but when after I finished reading that book, I was absolutely startled. Missus Muggerich calls it alarming. That is this movement. Cardinal Ratzinger called I think about feminism in the Catholic church.
He calls it another religion, and a lot of nuns are involved in it. Very seriously. Called Ungodly Rage, published in 1991. By Donna Steichen. So but to come back to this this text, this is not a text that anyone has to be apologetic about.
There is no marriage on god's earth that wouldn't be immensely improved if they took this seriously, that husbands should love their wives as God loves his church as God loves his church, as he loves his own body. I think the the the noblest commentary that I've read on this is from Dostoevsky. You you know, in in his second marriage, he he married a young girl who could have been his daughter. And I admit he was a very intermittent husband, but on the other hand he certainly he had very high principles and he was devoted to her. And soon after their marriage he wrote a note to put on her bed stay and in which he pointed out that he felt responsible for her eternal salvation and that it was his duty under God to help her to make it.
Now these are he said it much better, but that was the point. And every marriage that I witness, that when I see these people standing at the altar, they are committing themselves not to be good partners on this earth. They are committing themselves to being companion to help the other be saved, be a saint. That's the message of Paul today. Husbands, love your wives as the church love as God loves his church, as you love your own very bodies.
In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.