Good King Wenceslas and the Power of the Cross

Saturday, September 28th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s Gospel reading is very short, spanning only two and a half verses from St. Luke’s Gospel. The passage contains an admonition from Jesus to “[l]ay…up in your hearts these words, for it shall come to pass, that the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men” (Lk 9:44 DRB). However, the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant and “were afraid to ask [H]im” (Lk 9:45).

In the verses immediately preceding today’s Gospel passage, Our Lord cast out a demon from a possessed boy. His disciples had tried to cast out the demon unsuccessfully, so the boy’s father took him to Jesus, Who healed him. This incident seems to be key to understanding the message in today’s Gospel. An ancient commentary on this Gospel passage points out that “miracles do not save, but the cross conveys the benefit.” As my professor of Sacred Scripture often reminds his students, we cannot truly understand the Gospels without taking into account Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

The Cross conveys the benefit, for it is by Christ’s Cross that He has redeemed the world, as we hear in the Good Friday Antiphon. The Cross is the consummation of Christ’s love for us and the “hour” for which He became incarnate. The disciples did not yet understand this, and as a result, they were unable to exorcise the possessed boy.

Today, the Church traditionally celebrates the feast of St. Wenceslas, a 10th century Bohemian king who, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “had the courage to prefer the Kingdom of Heaven to the enticement of worldly power.” Wenceslas received a thorough Catholic education from his paternal grandmother, who instilled in him a great love of virtue. Wenceslas’ mother and brother, on the other hand, were violently anti-Catholic, leading his brother to resent Wenceslas’ sanctity and political power. Wenceslas was ultimately killed by his own brother as he was about to attend Mass, making the saintly king a martyr for the faith.

St. Wenceslas understood the fullness of Christ’s words in today’s Gospel and was not afraid to embrace the Cross. His great love for God impelled the saint to perform many works of charity, giving alms to widows and orphans, visiting the imprisoned, and personally caring for those in need each night despite his royal status. These works of charity are commemorated in the famous carol “Good King Wenceslas.” In honour of today’s feast, please enjoy the lovely orchestral arrangement of this carol below.