3rd Sunday after Pentecost – July 3, 2011
Sunday Within the Octave of the Sacred Heart
(Luke 15: 1-10)
Last Friday was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When our Lord appeared on earth mankind had forgotten how to love because he had forgotten what true beauty is. Human hearts were caught up in a false love of earthly possessions. Into this world the Holy Ghost brought the Heart of Jesus, which is like a ladder between man and God. It is the way we ascend to God and God descends to us. Jesus saves us because He loves His Church. His human heart could not love His Church without His Divine Heart being moved to mercy, and here we have the doctrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The devotion is as old as the Church because it rests on the truth that Christ is the Spouse and the Church is his bride.
The Gospel reading for the Feast tell how a soldier opened Jesus’ side with a spear, not that he wounded Him or stabbed Him, but opened His side. Christ’s side was like the door of life. Out of His side poured the Sacraments (the Mysteries) of the Church. This event was prefigured by the door that Noe was commanded to make in the side of the Ark. Into the door of the Ark went every living creature which was not to be destroyed by the flood, and the Sacraments that come out of Christ’s side lead, not to destruction, but to life.
In today’s Gospel reading for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost, the publicans and sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Him. These are people who knew they were sinners and who worried about their eternal salvation. The Pharisees and scribes were unrepentant sinners. They murmured against Christ, saying he receives sinners and eats with them. This shows us that Jesus Christ, who is true justice, feels compassion, but the false justice of the scribes and Pharisees shows only scorn. Why do the scribes and Pharisees represent false justice? Because they perverted the Law of Moses and the Commandments, twisting them to enrich themselves with worldly possessions. The accumulation of wealth is not the reason we were created.
The scribes and Pharisees were so sick with sin that they didn’t even know they were ill, but Jesus as the Heavenly Physician treats them with a soothing ointment in the form of the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. The number 100 represents all the rational creatures subject to God. The one that was lost is mankind; the 99 left behind are all the choirs of angels. The 99 were not in need of repentance and salvation, but mankind was.
When the Shepherd finds the lost sheep, He doesn’t punish it; He places it on His shoulders, as Christ placed the burden of our sins upon His shoulders. Upon returning home, which is to Heaven, He calls together His friends and neighbors, meaning all the choirs of Heaven, to, “Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.” Today foolish people might change that to read: “Rejoice with the sheep that has been found,” but this creates a false religion that makes mankind into a false God. The sheep are subject to the shepherd, just as we are subject to God. But when the sheep starts thinking he is the Shepherd, he is truly lost.
In the second parable, the woman lost a coin, on which an image was impressed. God tells us in the Book of Genesis that we are made in the image and likeness of God, hence the coin represents mankind. But in the Garden of Eden our first parents fall for the temptation of the devil. Adam and Eve, who are the sheep, start thinking they are the Shepherd. This original sin closed the Garden of Eden to them and closed the Gates of Heaven to all men until in the fullness of time the promised Messiah came.
The woman in the second parable is the Church, whose task it is to search out those who are lost and when found, to place them on her shoulders and bring them Home. The Church through the sacraments shows us the way back home to Paradise. The road to Paradise, however, is narrow, and when we sin, we fall into the ditch along the road. If we are blessed with humility, we repent of our sins, and through the Sacraments find our way back onto the road.
The parables in today’s Gospel reading end with our Lord saying that there will be joy among the angels of God when one sinner does penance, and I want to talk about the angels now. We know from Scripture that there are nine orders of angels. The tenth order of rational creatures is man. The nine orders of angels are Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim.
Before discussing the nine orders, a word about the fallen angels. The Prophet Ezechiel says to Lucifer, the angel who was first created, “Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” He doesn’t say, “Made in the likeness of God,” but rather “the seal of resemblance” because the purer his nature, the clearer was the image of God stamped upon him. Ezechiel then goes on to describe Lucifer’s beauty: “Every precious stone was thy covering; the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle and the emerald.” The naming of these nine precious stones also relates to the nine orders of angels.
Ezechiel continues in telling Lucifer that, “Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee.” And, “thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty,” which is a reference to Lucifer’s vanity, and continuing, “thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground,” and “I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, to devour thee, and I will make thee as ashes upon the earth in the sight of all that see thee.” This is the position of Lucifer, reduced from the most beautiful of all angels to a pile of ashes. See Ezechiel 28: 12-18 for these remarks which on the surface were directed to the king of Tyre, who was a prideful man, but it is generally agreed they are directed at Lucifer, the king over all children of pride.
The orders of angels are given their names by the work they do. An Angel is one who announces lesser things; an Archangel is one who announces things of greater importance. The Virtues are those through whom signs and wonder are seen from time to time. The Powers have received this gift but more powerfully than the Virtues, so that hostile Virtues are curbed and shall not tempt the hearts of men. Principalities are placed over the good angels, ordering the tasks that angels are given to do. Principality means to stand first among the rest. Dominations are given powers that surpass the powers of Principalities. Dominations means to have powers that surpass all the others, therefore Dominations is that order of angels to whom all the rest are subject. Thrones are those upon whom God is forever seated to give judgment. They are so filled with the grace of Divinity that the Lord is seated upon them, and through them makes known His judgments. Cherubim means fullness of knowledge. Contemplating more closely the glory of God, Cherubim are filled with a more perfect knowledge of Him. The closer they draw near God by reason of their rank the more they know all things. Finally, those choirs of holy spirits who because of their special closeness to the Creator burn with an incomparable love are called Seraphim. The closer they are to Him the more vivid is their perception of the glory of the Divinity and the more ardently do they burn with His love.
The order among mankind closely corresponds to the order among these citizens of Heaven. Those who understand small things yet never cease from devoutly announcing these to their brethren correspond to Angels. Those who understand and speak of the highest heavenly secrets correspond to the Archangels. Those people who work miracles and perform great signs and wonders correspond to the Virtues. Those who drive out devils from the possessed correspond to the Powers. Those who receive so many graces as to surpass even the elect and are placed over them correspond to the Principalities. And those who have so overcome vices within themselves that by the merit of their purity they are called gods among men in the sense that Moses was appointed “the god of Pharaoh” (Exodus 7: 1), these correspond to the order of Dominations. Those who rule themselves with watchful care, holding fast to their fear of God, receive as a reward their ability to judge others justly. God rests upon them as upon a throne while He examines the actions of men, and from where He orders all things. These people are numbered among the order called the Thrones of God. There are some men so filled with the love of God and neighbor that they rank among the Cherubim. Lastly, there are some who are set on fire by heavenly contemplation. They breathe in only the love of God and cast away the things of this life. When they speak, they inflame others to burn with the love of God, and these rank with the Seraphim.
Let us then reflect upon the gifts we have received and let our hearts long for a share of the love of God. Let us grieve if we see nothing in ourselves of the grace of these gifts. If we lack a share of these gifts, remember that they are available to us if we love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. This is nothing other than being obedient to God and to His Church. +++
We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass
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