Feria Sexta infra Hebdomadam XX post Octavam Pentecostes
V. Octobris ~ IV. classis
Today’s liturgical readings, appointed for the Feria Sexta of the 20th week after Pentecost, bring before us a twofold exhortation: to live with spiritual prudence (Eph. 5:15–21), and to grow in faith from signs to substance (John 4:46–53). In the quiet simplicity of this ferial day, falling in the shadow of the rich autumn feasts, Holy Mother Church gently calls us back to the fundamentals of Christian life: wisdom, gratitude, and faith.
“See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly…”
— Ephesians 5:15
St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians today exhorts us to live non quasi insipientes — “not as unwise men,” but as those redeemed by Christ, alert to the times, and attuned to the Spirit. He urges us to redeem the time (redimentes tempus), for the days are evil.
St. Jerome comments on this passage, noting that “to walk wisely” is to live every moment under the gaze of eternity:
“He who knows that he must give an account of every idle word will weigh his every step in the scale of divine justice.”
— St. Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians
The Apostle’s call is to holy sobriety — not joyless rigidity, but that interior alertness born of grace. He contrasts the drunkenness of the flesh with the intoxication of the Spirit, urging us to be filled not with wine, but with psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles. The ancient liturgy echoes this teaching daily in the Divine Office, as the chanting of the Psalms becomes both weapon and healing for the Christian soul.
St. John Chrysostom, that great teacher of Christian life, interprets the phrase “speaking to yourselves in psalms” as a sign of the Church’s interior harmony:
“Let your house be a church, your table an altar, your heart a sanctuary.”
— Homily on Ephesians 19
What would our homes look like, our daily rhythms, if they truly echoed the music of grace? The Apostle sees the believer not as one swept up in the current of the age, but walking circumspectly — with measured, intentional steps, like a pilgrim mindful of his path.
“Except you see signs and wonders, you believe not.”
— John 4:48
The Gospel appointed for today draws us into the quiet drama of a father’s pleading faith. The nobleman of Capharnaum seeks Jesus for the healing of his dying son. At first, Our Lord rebukes the crowd’s dependence on wonders: “Unless you see signs… you do not believe.” Yet the man persists — not out of demand, but from desperate trust: “Lord, come down before my son dies.”
The Venerable Bede, ever the patient exegete, teaches that this movement in the man’s heart mirrors the journey from imperfect to mature faith:
“At first he believed the Lord could heal, but only by bodily presence. But when told, ‘Go, your son lives,’ he believed the Word alone, and so faith was perfected.”
— Bede the Venerable, Homilies on the Gospels
There is, in this nobleman, a figure of our own journey. How often we begin with conditional faith — trusting Christ only in the visible, in the felt, in the immediate. Yet He invites us into a deeper faith: to trust not only His power, but His word. The healing of the son at a distance is a sign that grace does not require proximity, only receptivity. The Church herself, even now, lives by this dynamic: though Christ has ascended, His Word continues to heal.
St. Augustine marvels at this transformation of faith:
“The father believed and went his way. Behold, he who asked Christ to come to his house did not insist; he believed the word and was made whole in faith.”
— St. Augustine, Tractates on John, Tr. 16
This Gospel is not merely a miracle story, but a catechesis in faith: to hear, to believe, and then to see.
A Living Response: Wisdom and Faith
On this quiet feria, the Church sets before us a pattern for Christian life: the wise walk of the redeemed soul, and the believing heart that trusts even when signs are absent. These are not separate virtues, but two aspects of one sanctified life.
To walk in wisdom is to live by faith. To live by faith is to orient our every action toward eternity. This is the life of the saints, who sang psalms in their cells, who trusted in the promises of God even amid darkness.
Let us, then, renew our intention to redeem the time, as St. Paul urges — to let our speech be filled with spiritual song, our hearts attuned to thanksgiving, and our lives offered up in submission to Christ. And in moments when we do not see, when the signs are absent, let us recall that nobleman of the Gospel, and believe the Word.
“And the man believed the word that Jesus said to him, and went his way.”
— John 4:50
So may we also walk — wisely, faithfully, gratefully — until we see Him face to face.