Texts: Ephesians 6:10-17 and Matthew 18:23-35
Liturgical Context: Feria Sexta infra Hebdomadam XXI post Octavam Pentecostes (Friday of the 21st Week after the Octave of Pentecost)
Class: IV Class
Date: I November
As the liturgical year draws toward its close, the Church places before us today two profoundly sobering readings: Ephesians 6:10-17, St. Paul’s rousing call to spiritual arms, and Matthew 18:23-35, Our Lord’s parable of the unforgiving servant. Both readings speak to the heart of the Christian’s daily combat—within and without—and offer a fitting meditation for a Friday in the waning weeks of the liturgical year, when the Church bids us consider the Four Last Things.
“Put you on the armour of God.”
(Eph 6:11)
St. Paul, writing from prison, exhorts the Ephesians to prepare for battle—not against flesh and blood, but against the unseen forces of darkness. His military imagery is no poetic flourish but a vivid unveiling of the reality of the Christian vocation: militia est vita hominis super terram—“the life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1).
The armor he describes is not forged by human hands but is divine in origin. The Fathers of the Church consistently saw in these elements a spiritual discipline that must be daily renewed.
- St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, reminds us that the devil does not sleep nor slacken in his efforts. “Let us then not sleep,” he writes, “but put on our armor and stand firm. For he who stands, stands by God’s help, not by his own power.”
- St. Jerome identifies the “girdle of truth” as the anchoring principle: without truth, all else fails. The loins, the seat of desire, must be restrained by truth, lest concupiscence lead us astray.
- St. Ambrose, interpreting the “shield of faith,” teaches that it is faith that quenches the fiery darts of doubt and despair, the two arrows Satan most often employs.
This passage resounds with the urgency of vigilance and the necessity of grace. The helmet of salvation is not of our making—it is received. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, must be wielded through prayer and meditation.
“Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”
(Matt 18:29)
The Gospel takes us from the battlefield to the courtroom. The parable of the unforgiving servant casts before our eyes a mirror of our own hearts: recipients of infinite mercy, yet often reluctant to extend even a fraction of that mercy to others.
St. Augustine, in his Sermon on the Mount, warns: “How can he ask forgiveness of sins if he himself does not forgive the sins of others?” He calls the unforgiving servant “a traitor to mercy,” who receives but does not reciprocate.
St. Gregory the Great, in his Moralia, sees in this parable the structure of divine justice: mercy is freely given, but not to be abused. “He who has been forgiven much must love much,” he says, echoing the Lord’s own teaching. The servant’s downfall is not merely his debt, but his failure to imitate the mercy shown to him.
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Catena Aurea, compiles the insights of the Fathers and notes that the servant was initially forgiven entirely—not with conditions. But upon revealing his hardened heart, that mercy is revoked, demonstrating that the benefits of God’s grace require cooperation with that grace.
A Unified Reflection: Arming the Heart with Mercy
What ties these readings together is the interior battleground of the soul. In Ephesians, St. Paul commands us to be armed with virtues; in Matthew, Our Lord shows that the battle is not won by arms alone, but by mercy.
The greatest weapon in the Christian’s arsenal, then, is not merely the sword of doctrine or the shield of faith, but the readiness to forgive. Mercy is not weakness—it is divine strength. It disarms the enemy within: pride, resentment, and spiritual arrogance.
We are reminded today, on this quiet feria sexta, of the hidden warfare of the Christian life, and the judgment that awaits us if we, having received so much, harden our hearts toward others. The man forgiven ten thousand talents is us—every day we receive the inestimable mercy of Christ, especially in the Holy Mass and in Confession. Shall we then exact the hundred pence from our neighbor?
Let us close with the words of St. Leo the Great:
“The works of mercy are the path to eternal life; through them the faithful soul is armed against the devil, protected from wrath, and united to the love of Christ.”