Msgr. Knox and the Parables of the Kingdom

I wrote previously on the parables of the Kingdom in the Gospel of Matthew.  They fascinated me then, and I read a great reflection on them that continued the wonder.  Alongside reading the Gospel of Matthew, I've been making my way through In Soft Garments by Msgr. Ronald Knox.  He uses the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven to put a frame on the issue of the Church and human progress.

Here are some extended quotes, and any attempt at a summary wouldn't do him justice.

"... the growth of the mustard seed shows you the Christian Church as a body which swells in size, whereas the spread of the leaven shows you the Christian gospel as an influence which radiates fore and communicated it to its neighbourhood.  The tree takes something from its surroundings; takes nourishment from the earth and the moisture and the sunlight, and so grows bigger: and the Church takes something from her surroundings, takes the souls of men from the world and incorporates them into herself.  The leaven gives something to its surroundings, infects them with its own life; so the Christian gospel gives something to its surroundings; communicates to mankind its own spirit of discipline and its own philosophy of life." (pg. 166-167)

"One word needs to be added, not less important.  Our Lord says that the mustard tree is to grow out of all recognition; he doesn't say that it is to grow indefinitely; does not mean us to understand that there will ever be a time at which the whole of mankind will be even nominally Christian.  His prophecy that his Gospel will be preached in the whole world is sufficiently fulfilled if all mankind has a real chance of hearing it.  Similarly, when he says that the leaven hidden in the meal spread till the whole was leavened, I don't think we are necessarily to understand this as meaning that there will be a time at which the principles of Christian charity towards one's neighbour will dominate the counsels of humanity.  We are to understand that the Christian message will make itself felt throughout the world which harbours it, not necessarily that it will triumph.  Don't be disappointed, therefore, if it appears--it may perfectly well come to appear so in your lifetime--as if things were going backwards instead of forwards, as if the world were relapsing into barbarism instead of following along the path marked out for it by what we call civilization.... the social influence of the Church is in reality a by-product of her activity; it is not her life.  Her business, ultimately, is with the individual soul, and the promises by which she lives are not limited within the these narrow horizons.  The leaven is there, and it does not lose its virtue with the centuries.  But whether in our particular age the time is ripe for its manifestation, that we cannot know."  (pg. 172-173)

The latter quote put the modern world into good perspective, I think.  Couldn't Knox be writing for today, and not the 1930s?  Doesn't the world seem to be going backward instead of forward?  It slips my mind frequently, but it's key to our spiritual life: Christ has won the war, yes, but the victory will not come in this world until the end of time.  Until then, we are in the midst of the battles.