3rd Week of Easter – Tuesday A – Optional Memorial of Saint Anselm, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

In the first reading, Saint Paul says in his Letter to the Ephesians that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:17). Now here Saint Paul is not speaking about a superficial faith. He is not dancing around and screaming in tongues and doing all kinds of wacky things, trying to pretend he’s on fire for the Lord. No, he is speaking about an indwelling, a transformation of the inner self by the Holy Spirit.

Anselm’s entire theology can be summed up in his famous expression: “faith seeking understanding.” But notice the order. First faith, then understanding. And this mirrors perfectly what Paul says: “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17), and “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19).

Saint Anselm did not try to figure out God from the outside. Rather, he prayed his theology. He studied God in his conversations with Him. His works, like the Proslogion, are essentially prolonged conversations with God. How many beautiful insights do we receive when we are speaking with God? How beautifully does He reveal so many important aspects of our lives that need to be illuminated in order to be resolved, improved, or even initiated? And it all happens during our conversation with God.

Paul uses the expression “the breadth and length and height and depth” (Ephesians 3:18) of Christ’s love. He is stretching language to its limits. Here he is describing something that cannot be contained. And Saint Anselm, especially in his work Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man), attempts to contemplate the depth of sin, the height of divine justice, the breadth of mercy, and the length of God’s saving plan.

But he always arrives at the same conclusion that Saint Paul gives: “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19). In other words, even the greatest minds in the Church end not in mastery—“look at how smart I am, how ingenious I am, how full of wisdom I am”—but in wonder and adoration: “How great Thou art, O God.”

Then in the Gospel, we hear Jesus speaking about authentic faith, and He warns us: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). This Gospel is a necessary correction, because it is possible to speak about God, to do works in His name, even to engage in religious activity, and yet not belong to Him.

Saint Anselm lived this tension intensely. As Archbishop of Canterbury, he suffered exile, conflict with kings, and was pressured to compromise. And yet he refused. He refused to reduce faith to political convenience or to an external performance. For him, truth had to be lived, not just professed. It is not what we say that is most important, but how we are living the words we preach.

And so this is exactly what Jesus says: “only the one who does the will of my Father” (Matthew 7:21). Then He gives the analogy of rock versus sand. The image of the house built on solid ground is not abstract in the life of Anselm, and it should not be abstract in our lives.

Saint Anselm’s rock was obedience to God, fidelity to the truth, and interior union with Christ. So that when the storms came—and they did, real exile, not just a metaphorical storm—he truly suffered. And yet his life did not collapse. Why? Because his faith was not built on intellectual brilliance alone, or ecclesiastical position, or human approval, but on Christ dwelling within him.

Now, my brothers and sisters, we are at the midway point between the Resurrection and Pentecost—between Christ revealed as the true Son of God, risen from the dead, and Christ interiorized through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In Saint Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, we see that “he may grant you… to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self” (Ephesians 3:16). He is preparing us for Pentecost. And then in Matthew, we see the authenticity of discipleship: that we are being prepared for mission.

Saint Anselm becomes a model of what happens after Pentecost. Faith is deepened by the Holy Spirit. The intellect is illuminated. And the very life of the apostles—and of all those upon whom the Holy Spirit is poured out—is conformed more fully to Christ.

As we move toward Pentecost, my brothers and sisters, I offer you three very practical invitations.

First, move from external to internal faith. Ask yourself: is Christ truly dwelling in me, or am I simply speaking about Him?

Second, move from knowing to loving. Like Saint Anselm, do I seek to understand because I love, or do I seek to control through knowledge?

Third, move from mere words to obedience. Jesus is very clear: the test is not what we say; the test is what we live.

When the storm comes, may the Mother of God—who believed when it hurt, who believed when it meant she would be mocked, who even risked being stoned—help us to trust that “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4), because Christ is within us.

And may Almighty God continue to bless you as we approach Pentecost. May the Holy Spirit continue to work within your hearts for the greater glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Optional Memorial of Saint Anselm, bishop and doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 552

Below are the readings suggested for today's Memorial. However, readings for the Memorial may also be taken from the Common of Pastors, #719-724 or the Common of Doctors of the Church, #725-730.
 

Reading 1

Ephesians 3:14-19

Brothers and sisters:
I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11

1.  (2)  I will bless the Lord at all times.
   or:
   R.    (9)  Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
   I will bless the LORD at all times;
   his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
   Let my soul glory in the LORD;
   the lowly will hear and be glad.
   R.     I will bless the Lord at all times.
   or:
   R.    Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
   Glorify the LORD with me,
   let us together extol his name.
   I sought the LORD, and he answered me
   and delivered me from all my fears.
   R.     I will bless the Lord at all times.
   or:
   R.    Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
   Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
   and your faces may not blush with shame.
   When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
   and from all his distress he saved him.
   R.     I will bless the Lord at all times.
   or:
   R.    Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
   The angel of the LORD encamps
   around those who fear him, and delivers them.
   Taste and see how good the LORD is;
   blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
   R.     I will bless the Lord at all times.
   or:
   R.    Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
   Fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
   for nought is lacking to those who fear him.
   The great grow poor and hungry;
   but those who seek the LORD want for no good thing.
   R.    I will bless the Lord at all times.
   or:
   R.    Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Alleluia

John 6:63, 68c

1.  Alleluia, alleluia.
   Your words, Lord, are spirit and life;
   you have the words of eternal life.
   R.    Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Matthew 7:21-29

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?'
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.'

"Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined."

When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.