The Church, like a vine, spreads everywhere in her growth

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Tuesday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Ezekiel (36: 16-36) entitled “God’s people will be restored in body, heart, and spirit”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a sermon On Pastors by Saint Augustine, bishop.

Saint Augustine was born at Tagaste in Africa in 354. He was unsettled and restlessly searched for the truth until he was converted to the faith at Milan and baptized by Ambrose. Returning to his homeland, he embraced an ascetic life and subsequently was elected bishop of Hippo. For thirty-four years he guided his flock, instructing it with sermons and many writings. He fought bravely against the errors of his time and explained the Faith carefully and cogently through his writings. He is also a preeminent Catholic Doctor of the Church. His writings influenced the development of western philosophy and western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. He died in 430.

Augustine of Hippo’s sermon “On Pastors” deals with the duty of shepherds & clergy to help the sick and weak through opening up the hidden meaning of Scripture through preaching and teaching.

In response to the rebellion of Jehoiakim of Judah in 601 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian ruler, besieged Jerusalem. When Jehoiakim’s successor, Jehoiachin, surrendered in 597, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah king and deported to Babylon Jehoiachin and the royal family, along with members of the upper class, including Ezekiel the priest. Five years later, as Zedekiah planned his own revolt against Babylon, Ezekiel became the first prophet to be commissioned outside Judah or Israel. Before Jerusalem is destroyed in 587 B.C., Ezekiel is concerned to convince his audience that they are responsible for the punishment of exile and to justify the Lord’s decision to destroy their city and Temple. Later, Ezekiel argues that the Judahites who embrace his preaching are the people whom the Lord has chosen as a new Israel, enlivened by a new heart, imbued with new breath, and restored to a re-created land, Temple, and covenant relationship. Ezekiel is clear on one point: the Lord punishes and restores for one reason—for the sake of his name, in order to demonstrate once and for all that he is Lord.