Father Goffine’s instructions for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost
From the Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels by Father Leonard Goffine. Imprimatur: Rt. Rev.
Joseph F. Mooney, V.G. September 28, 1918. (Copyright 1880)

At the Introit of the Mass excite in your heart an ardent desire for heaven, with these words: Behold, O
God, our protector, and look on the face of thy Christ:, for better is one day, in thy courts above
thousands. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of
the Lord. (Ps. LXXXIII.) Glory etc.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Keep, We beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual
favor; and because without Thee the weakness of man is ready to fall, may it be withheld by Thy aid from
all things hurtful, and devoted to all things profitable to salvation. Thro'.

EPISTLE. (Gal. V. 16-24.) BRETHREN, Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the
flesh: for the flesh lusteth against, the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: for these are contrary one to
another: so that you do not the things that you would. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under
the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are, fornication, uncleanness, immodesty,
luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects,
envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I foretell to you, as I have foretold to
you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is
charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency,
chastity. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh with the vices
and concupiscences.

What is it to walk in the spirit?
It is to obey the inspirations of the Holy Ghost always, and in all things. He who does this, says St.
Paul, will not do the evil works of the flesh, which are here enumerated, but he will rather suppress and
mortify all sensual desires, in this manner crucify his flesh together with its vices and lusts, and make
himself worthy of the fruits of the Holy Ghost, which are also mentioned; he will belong to Christ, and
secure for himself eternal happiness. On the contrary, he who lives according to the flesh, that is, gives
way to the desires of the flesh, has no hope of salvation.
Is it not strange, that all Christians wish to belong to Christ and become heirs of His kingdom, but are
unwilling to crucify the flesh and its lusts, though Christ says to all; If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matt XVI. 24.)

ASPIRATION. Intercede for me, O St. Paul, that God may give me grace to crucify my flesh with its
lusts, that I may have part with thee in Christ:

GOSPEL. (Matt. VI. 24-33.) At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: No man can serve two masters;
for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat,
nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body more than the
raiment? Behold the birds of the air; for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and
your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you, by
taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? And for raiment, why are you solicitous? Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow; they labor not, neither do they spin; but I say to you, that not even
Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. Now, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is
to-day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O ye of little faith? Be not solicitous,
therefore, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after
all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.
Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and his justice; and all these things shall be added unto you.

What is meant by serving God?
Doing the will of God, or performing faithfully and zealously all that God asks of us according to our
age and condition, and for love of Him.

Who are the two masters whom we cannot serve alike?
God and Mammon or riches, whereby also, the other goods and pleasures of the world are understood.
These we cannot serve at the same time, because they command things diametrically opposed to each
other; for instance, God prohibits usury, theft, deceit, &c.; to which the desire for wealth impels us. God
commands that we keep holy Sundays and holy days, and devote them to His service; the desire for riches
tempts man to omit religious worship and to seek temporal gain; it disturbs him even in church, so that he
is only present with his body, but absent in mind with his temporal goods and business.

To whom can riches be useful?
To those who, like the saints, perform works of mercy with them, and thus lay up treasures for
themselves in heaven.
Why does Christ call our attention to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field?
To, excite in us confidence in the providence of God, which preserves even the birds and the flowers.
Surely, if God feeds the young ravens which cry to Him; (Ps. CXLVI. 9.) if He nourishes the birds which
neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; if He vests the flowers of the field so beautifully, how much
more will He care for man whom He has made to His own image and likeness, and adopted as His child,
if he only acts as such, keeps His commandments, and always entertains a filial confidence in Him.
Should we, therefore, lay aside all care and never work?
This does not follow from what has been said. Christ condemns only the superfluous cares, which cause
man to forget God and to neglect the salvation of his soul. Besides, God has Himself ordered (Gen. III.
17-19.) that man should obtain the fruits of the earth with much labor, that he should earn his bread by the
sweat of his brow. St. Paul says: If any man will not work, neither let him eat. (II Thess. III. 10.)

What should preserve us from superfluous cares?
A firm and lively faith, that God can and will help us. That He can is evident, because He is almighty;
that His will is certain, because He promises it in so many passages of Holy Writ, and because He is
infinitely faithful to all His promises. Christ encourages us to this lively confidence with these, words: All
things whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive and they shall come unto you.
(Mark XI. 24.) Therefore the apostle also commands us to throw all cares upon the Lord, who provides
for us. (I Pet. V. 7.) And why should God not care for us, since He sent us His Son and with Him all; for
which reason St. Augustine says: "How can you doubt that God will give you good things, since He
vouchsafed to assume evil for you!"

PRAYER. O Lord Jesus! give me a firm confidence in Thy Divine Providence, and daily increase it in
me, that when in necessity I may confidently believe if I seek first the kingdom of God and His justice,
the rest shall be added unto me.

CONSOLATION IN POVERTY
Be not solicitous for your life. (Matt. VI. 25.)
If you were born in poverty, or accidentally, or through your own fault have become poor, be consoled,
because God has sent you this poverty for your own good; for good things and evil, life and death,
poverty and riches are, from God. (Ecclus. XI-14.). Therefore receive it from the hand of God without
impatience or murmuring, as a means by which He wishes to keep you from forgetting Him, which
would, perhaps, happen if He were to bless you with temporal prosperity. Riches are a source of
destruction for many.

If you have brought poverty upon yourself by a licentious and sinful life, receive it
in a spirit of penance as a just and salutary chastisement, and thank God that He gives you an opportunity
to do penance for your sins. But if you have become poor through no fault of your own, be consoled by
the example of the saints, of whom St. Paul says: they bear the unjust taking away of their goods with joy,
because they know that a better and an unchangeable treasure is in store for them in heaven. (Hebr, X.
34.) But you should particularly take courage from the example of Christ who, being rich, became poor
for us, (II Cor. VIII. 9.) and had not a place whereon to lay His head. (Matt. VIII. 20.)

In your distress say with Job: The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away: as it pleased the Lord, so it
is done: blessed be the name of the Lord. Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I
return thither. (Job. I. 21.) Fear not my son, says Tobias, we lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have
many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sins, and do that which is good. (Tob. IV. 23.) To
serve God and to be content with few things always brings rich reward, if not in this, at least in the next
life. Therefore Christ promised the kingdom of heaven to the poor in spirit, that is, not only to the humble,
busy also to the poor who imitate Christ in all patience and resignation. Follow, therefore, the poor Jesus,
follow His poor mother, by imitating their example, and you will possess the kingdom of heaven.

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING USURY
You cannot serve God and Mammon. (Matt. VI. 24.)
Usury is to demand more than legal interest from our neighbor, to whom we have lent something, or
who is otherwise indebted to us. Those are also commonly called usurers, who, in times of want, hoard up
necessary food, such as grain, flour, &c., and only sell it at an exorbitant price; or who buy up all such
articles to sell them to the needy for enormous prices. This is a grievous sin, and usurers are threatened
with eternal death, for Christ expressly prohibits lending with usury. (Luke VI. 34, 35.)

Usurers are the real leeches of the poor, whom they rob of their sweat and blood, and since they
transgress the natural law, but still more the divine, which commands us to love our neighbor, and be
merciful to the needy, they will surely not possess the kingdom of heaven. Would to God, the hardhearted
sinner might consider this, and take to heart the words of Christ: What doth it profit a man, if he
gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul (Matt. XVI. 26.)

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