Sermon, Feast of Christmas, Dec 25, 2011

Christmas Day, December 25, 2011

(John 1: 1-14)

           

Christmas is usually thought of as starting today and continuing for 12 days, but Christmastide extends 40 days, from today to the Purification of Mary on February 2^nd. The Church’s Liturgy celebrates the miracle of the virgin birth on each of those days.

            Some Modernists make a false claim that we do not know the date of Christ’s birth. They claim that December 25^th was chosen in order to “Christianize” the Roman festival of the sun. In fact, there were no Roman holidays on December 25^th. The nearest one was the drunken festival of Saturnalia which always ended not later than December 23^rd. St. John Chrysostom notes that the public records of births were available to the Church, and it can be easily assumed these records were looked at in order to confirm the birth date of December 25^th.

            The date of December 25^th is also arrived at by noting in Luke 1 that an angel appeared to Zachary on the Day of Atonement in late September to tell him his wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son who is to be called John. Then in Luke 1: 28 the Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that Elizabeth is now in her sixth month. Adding six months to late September when the angel appeared to Zachary brings us to late March for the conception of Jesus, and adding nine months to that brings us to late December for the birth of the Lord.

            Why was Bethlehem chosen as the birthplace of the Lord? It was the City of David, where King David came from, and the name Bethlehem in Hebrew means City of Bread. Later, Jesus tells His people at John 6: 51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.”

            We just celebrated St. Thomas’ feast day on December 21^ST.Pope St. Gregory the Great tells us it is St. Thomas the Apostle, Doubting Thomas we call him, who had more to do with solidifying our faith than the faith of all the other Disciples. Thomas put his fingers into the Wounds of his Master. He felt the risen Christ, and cried out, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas saw only the Perfect Man before him, but touching Him he believed in the Perfect God which he could not see. Thomas was a witness for us of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He touched Christ’s wounds for us so that we today may believe in the Resurrection. The words of our Lord which followed, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed, (John 20: 29) are meant especially for us, who have not seen Christ in the flesh, but believe in his Divinity. Also we have not seen the birth of Jesus, but we have many evidences of His birth and His life, His death and His resurrection, and we believe.

            We are often asleep in sin, asleep with our concerns for the things of this life. We must use, but not abuse, the things of the Earth to clothe us and to feed us. Work with our hands and minds to provide these things for us. Enjoy, but do not worship, the beauty of the Earth. With our bodies be obedient to Christ’s commandments and to the rules of His Church. But with our souls, worship God Whom we cannot see, Whom we cannot sense, but Whom we can believe because Thomas touched Him and believed before us. With the whole desire of our souls let us embrace that “true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.” (John 1: 9)

            Reflect  Who it is we receive in the Eucharist today, and Who has received us into Himself. The Lord Jesus by being born has become our flesh, and we by being reborn have become His Body. Therefore, we are both members of the Body of Christ, the Church, and we are temples of the Holy Ghost, and for this reason St. Paul tells us to “Glorify and bear God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6: 20) While we take Him into ourselves in the Eucharist He says to us, “Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.” (Matthew 1: 28-29)

            A blessed Christmas to you and to your families. +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass:

Sermon, 4th Sunday of Advent, Dec 18, 2011

4th Sunday of Advent – December 18, 2011

 (Luke 3: 1-6)

                                    “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance.” (Luke 3: 8)

          John the Baptist, the Precursor of the Lord, preached a Baptism of penance and told those who came to him to repent, and to bring forth fruits worthy of penance. This highlights the difference between Baptism and Confession. In Baptism God forgives us without requiring that we do anything to make up for our sins. In Penance, God forgives our sins and gives us His grace on the condition that we undergo a punishment either in this life or in Purgatory. The penance the priest assigns in the confessional is part of that punishment. But there is more to Penance.

          To obtain God’s forgiveness in the Confessional we must know what to do to make a good Confession. The first thing is to make an examination of our conscience, but even prior to that we should pray to the Holy Ghost that He will bring to our mind sins that we might forget once inside the Confessional. We then examine our conscience to recall our sins and how many times we committed them. The second thing is to declare our sins distinctly, that is, without exaggeration and without excuse. The third condition for a good Confession is repentance. As we finish reciting our sins to the priest we say, “For these sins and for all the sins of my life I am sorry.” This is joined with a sincere intention of not repeating them and a determination to avoid anything that might cause us to sin. This we do in the last half of the Act of Contrition that the priest asks us to recite: “I firmly resolve to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.” True repentance comes from heaven and is produced by prayers and tears. A lack of repentance has sent many souls to hell.

          There is still a fourth condition to making a good Confession, and that is to make satisfaction to God for offending Him and satisfaction to our neighbor for any injury we caused him. We make satisfaction to God by prayers of repentance, by charitable acts and by offering our life to Him every day. If we have stolen something from our neighbor, even his good name through gossip, we must make restitution to him by returning what we have stolen, or its equivalent, and by apologizing and otherwise undoing the harm that comes from slander and gossip. This is sometimes very difficult to do, but it is part of our penance, and to deliberately fail to do this is a sin itself and must be confessed.

          Lastly, there is the temporal punishment due to sin. This means that our sins require a physical punishment. It is the great mercy of God that forgives our sins, but the  perfect justice of God also demands punishment. This is the purpose of Purgatory. Since nothing imperfect can enter heaven, souls in Purgatory will be made clean and pure in order to satisfy the justice of God. Yet, in His great mercy, God also gives us a way to avoid some and even all of the pains of Purgatory. These are called indulgences.

          Indulgences come from the inexhaustible treasury of Jesus Christ, His Mother, and all the saints. Under the authority to loose and bind given to Peter and his successors, the Church establishes indulgences so we can pay our debt to God. It is not unlike someone who owes a rich man money that he cannot pay back. The rich man then opens his chest of gold and tells the man to take what he owes and pay it right back to the rich man. God does this for us. An indulgence satisfies the temporal punishment due to God because of our sins. We measure an indulgence by days or years because that’s how we live, day by day and year by year. An indulgence requires that we perform some act, usually prayers, in order to gain the benefit. Some indulgences reduce our time in Purgatory by days, some by years, and there are some, if followed through completely, remit or satisfy all temporal punishment due to sin so that we spend no time in Purgatory.

          The liturgy of the Church takes us to the desert today, to St. John Baptist telling us to prepare the way of the Lord. Let us prepare His way this Christmas season by taking stock of ourselves– who we are and what we have done with our lives over the past year. Let us resolve to come closer to God this coming year by loving our families and giving of ourselves for the sake of our family. A blessed Christmas to all! +++

Sermon, 3rd Sunday of Advent, Dec 11, 2011

Third Sunday of Advent – December 11, 2011

(Epistle: Philippians 4: 4-7)

(Gospel: John 1: 19-28)

“And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.” (Matthew 11: 6)

           

            Nothing is more honorable for a Christian than to bear the name of a child of God and brother of Jesus Christ. But on the other side of that coin, nothing is more awful than being ashamed to confess Him openly in public, that is, as often as the occasion calls for it. Those who fear man more than they fear God are the ones who will deny him, violating the promises they made or made for them at Baptism. What do we get in return for denying Christ? We get to be slaves of Satan, the loser, the evil one. To put it in financial terms, that’s not much of a return on our investment in life.

            The fear of man is this: to be ashamed to fulfill our religious duties before the world. “To be afraid to do good for fear of being despised or ridiculed by . . . men is a dreadful insult” to God, Who could send us to hell at any moment. But you can be sure that those Christians who ridicule you for your faith do not have the courage that you do to publically acknowledge that you follow Christ and His Church. Fear of man can also mar a good work we do if we do because we fear being criticized for not doing something good. Man cannot bestow grace upon us, but God can, so do your good works for love of God and neighbor. We find our justification in pleasing God, not man.

            Let’s look at this problem of fear of man from a different angle. Piety is a reverence for God,

fulfilling our religious obligations with devotion. If we make fun of pious people, there are three reasons why we do this: One, because we think they are hypocrites or, two, we make fun of piety itself or, three, we are angry because they are better than we are.

            As to the first one, in order to treat the pious as hypocrites we must be able to read their hearts and see the hypocrisy there.  We cannot do that, but now, isn’t this a better way to proceed? That when we see someone performing a good work we naturally conclude that it comes from a good and pure heart? If the things pious people do are actually good works, then we are reassured by the Words of the Son of God Himself that “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.” (Matthew 8: 17, 18)

            If we are upset when we see a pious person, is that not a call from God? Isn’t He showing you this person as a reminder that you also should be pious? Be content when you see such people, and know that there are many good people in the world whose acts of piety are not only for their benefit, but also for yours.

            The second reason:  we make fun of piety itself. We really do this because we lack the courage to do what pious people do – pray, receive the Sacraments, attend Mass, all as devoutly as they can. We must justify our lax, indifferent and even sinful lives, so we ridicule piety itself, and those who are pious, as a bunch of losers. But let me give you a gentle reminder:  Pious people are on the path to heaven; the lax, indifferent and sinful are on the path to hell. Winners go to heaven. Losers go to hell.

            The third reason we don’t like pious people: we are angry because they are better than we are. But let me ask you, what would you think of a poor man who speaks badly about rich people? Would you not ask him: “What is preventing you from working toward being rich?” But isn’t this also true of you, if you speak badly about piety and those who practice it? What is preventing you from being as pious as any saint? The answer, of course, is nothing at all!

            We can understand now that those who are pious do not deserve our mockery. These people mitigate the anger of God, and if they didn’t we would all soon be annihilated by the justice of God. We know this is true from Moses and Phinees. The Jews tempted God in the desert and forgot that he saved them, and God “said that he would destroy them: had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach: To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.” And, later, they provoked God “with their inventions: and destruction was multiplied among them. Then Phinees stood up, and pacified him: and the slaughter ceased.” (Psalm 105) The prayers of the pious today also hold back the justice of God.

            No, instead of mocking the pious, we should copy them, do what they do. It doesn’t take much to give up meat on Fridays, to go to Confession and to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. We aren’t really too busy to say our prayers in the morning, asking God for the graces we need for this day. We aren’t really too tired to say our evening prayers, thanking Him for His many gifts throughout the day. When we do these things we not only receive God’s grace, but also psychological benefits – we get peace of mind knowing that we have fulfilled our obligations to God. From this comes a great confidence in ourselves and we soon find that we are living a happy life.

            In today’s Epistle reading St. Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord. There is nothing more just than to rejoice in our Lord. Be not solicitous, which means do not be anxious or impatient, because the Lord is near. He is near to His Church and near to our souls. How can we be near so burning a Fire and still be cold in our hearts? Let us meet the Christ Child on Christmas morning with our prayers and petitions and with thanksgiving, as St. Paul recommends to us today.  

            This coming week is Ember Week, a time of fasting and abstinence. When you fast you are denying yourself a pleasure and you will feel uncomfortable. That is called mortification of the body. When you offer that uncomfortable feeling to God you will be rewarded with the grace of God that will bring you closer to Him. It will help you stand fast against the devil and will defeat the sinful vices which lead you away from Heaven.

            For those aged 18 to 59, inclusive,  Ember Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are days of fast (one full meal, two smaller meals, liquids only between meals) and, for all aged 7 or over, partial abstinence from meat. You can have meat, meat gravy, or meat soup at the main meal only on Ember Wednesday and Saturday. Total abstinence from meat on Ember Friday, as on all Fridays of the year.

            Fast and abstinence is a violence against ourselves. Pope St. Leo the Great says that fasting is the food of virtue, because from abstinence comes chaste thoughts, honorable decisions and helpful advice. By voluntarily suffering through fasting the sting of the flesh is lessened, that is, we think less of our bodies while our souls become strong in virtue. Make the Ember Days even more meaningful by depriving yourself of little luxuries like desert and by praying for Catholic priests, who are in great need of your fasting and prayers. +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass

Second Sunday of Advent, Dec.4, 2011

Second Sunday of Advent – December 4, 2011

(Matthew. 11: 2-10)

“In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.”

(Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 7: 40)

            The Holy Ghost is the authority for the written Word of God, and He assures us through Ecclesiasticus that we shall never sin, so this truth must be very powerful and wholesome for us – if we take it to heart. If we think about it, how can we attach ourselves to the things of this world when we remember that in a short time we will no longer be here? From Adam up until today, no one has ever taken anything with him when he died, and no one ever will. Remember always that today or tomorrow your soul may be reclaimed by God. If you keep that in mind, you’ll always be ready to meet Him.

            Behold how much Jesus Christ loves us, appearing in the beginning as a poor Child in a crib lying on straw. A crib or manger is a rack where straw is thrown and where beasts of burden come to eat. That baby carried a heavy burden, too, the weight of all the sins of mankind. At the end of His life he appeared as a Criminal, bound and beaten, falling under the cross, crucified and dying – all for love of us. If that is not enough to move our hearts and draw us to him, He then warns us that He will come again in glory to judge us without clemency, without mercy, but with justice, and to reveal to the world all the good and bad that we have done in our lives. If we actually consider all this every day, is there anything else we need to make us live and die like saints? Eternity is at stake every day.

             How blind we can be concerning our eternal happiness. We must think sometimes that the saints had a different Gospel to follow. But, no, it is the same Gospel, the same Bible, the same teaching authority of the Church that they and we live under. However, they lived for eternity, while many of us live for today. They lived a life of penance while many of us give our hearts to the pleasures and plans of this world.

            The saints practiced virtue, the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. The traditional listing of the Corporal Works of Mercy is as follows:

• To feed the hungry;
• To give drink to the thirsty;
• To clothe the naked;
• To take in the homeless;
• To visit the sick;
• To ransom captives;
• To bury the dead.

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:

• To instruct the ignorant;
• To counsel the doubtful;
• To admonish sinners;
• To bear wrongs patiently;
• To forgive offences willingly;
• To comfort the afflicted;
• To pray for the living and the dead.

Not everyone does all of these every day, but we can practice most of these virtues at different times in our lives. Many revolve around almsgiving and that is how St. Thomas Aquinas sees it. Almsgiving is required by the Natural Law and is based on the principle that we should to do to others as we would have them do to us. But almsgiving is also strictly required by Divine Law, and the penalty for violating this Law is severe. Matthew 25: 41-46: “Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me . . . And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.’” Jesus Christ is waiting for us with open arms and He has shown us the path to reach Him.

            In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the One to come or should they look for another. But John was a cousin of Jesus. At the River Jordan, John told the crowd, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sins of the world.” John knew who Jesus was. So why did he ask “art thou he that art to come”? Well, he didn't ask it. John knew he was about to die so he sent his disciples to ask this question. This was for the benefit of his disciples, so they would know and believe in Jesus after John was dead.  Jesus did not answer, “Yes, I am he.” If He did, they might have accused Him of giving testimony of himself, or as we might say, of blowing His own horn, as the Pharisees accused Him of doing at John 8: 13. Instead, Jesus tells them to tell John what they have heard and seen; the blind see, the crippled walk, the deaf hear, lepers are cured, the dead come back to life and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

            John knew it was important that these two disciples he sent learn about Jesus firsthand and come to believe that He is the Messiah. These two disciples were offended and scandalized by the things they had previously heard that Jesus was saying and doing. How do we know that? Because Jesus, knowing their hearts and their thoughts, rebuked them secretly, and at the same time forgave them, when he said to them, “And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me.”  There were many who were scandalized when, after seeing Jesus perform so many miracles, then later saw Him dying on the cross. This was difficult for many people at that time, and that is why St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians: 1: 23: “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and unto the Gentiles foolishness.”  

            To stand up for Christ in public by performing the works of mercy we need to overcome our fear of others -- what they might think or say about us.  So we can understand that our Lord’s words were also addressed to us today: “Blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me.” That is a subject for next week’s sermon. I pray that you will always stand up for your faith and always hold yourselves ready for judgment. +++

           

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass