14th Sunday After Pentecost – September 18, 2011
Matthew 6: 24-33
Our Lord is telling us today not to center our lives on the things of this life. As he puts it, “Be not solicitous of your life, or food or clothing.” This leads us to consider how we order our lives.
There is a right order of things in the universe:
- God created us.
- We are thinking beings.
- We have souls that will live on eternally.
- We have been given dominion over the earth.
- We have been given our bodies to rule over.
When we become too interested in our lives, our jobs, entertainment, clothing, and food – all those things that pass away when we die – it means we make these things so important to us that we no longer serve God. In this life, the latest fashion always gives way to the next latest fashion, and what is “in” this year is definitely “out” next year.
Our Lord pokes a little fun at King Solomon by telling us that even Solomon, with all the wealth and the fancy clothing that he had, was not as beautiful as a common lily growing in the fields.
Note that in today’s Gospel our Lord is not telling us to give up working for a home, food and clothing. After all, the virtues of justice and prudence demand that we provide these things for our ourselves and our families. But he is telling us that we cannot make these things the center of our lives and at the same time think we are serving God. That is serving two masters, and that Jesus tells us is impossible.
What happens to the right order of things in the universe when we give in to temptation to sin, and how do we change masters? Suppose someone steals something from his employer. He’s happy with what he stole, so his next step then is to rationalize his sin. He tells himself it’s so small his employer won’t even miss it, besides it really should be part of his salary anyway. Eventually the sin of theft disappears and he says “so what, everybody does it anyway.” Then stealing becomes a “normal part of the job,” and next we convince ourselves that we have a “right” to take things.
At this point the sinner has justified his sin. Now he loves his sin. Now he lives his life in service to sin because he has upset the right order of life that God gave us. Part of the right order of life is “Thou shalt not steal.” Honesty is the right order of things. When the man accepts his sin as justified, he is serving mammon, and he can no longer serve God.
Then if someone condemns his actions, the man finds he must in turn condemn the condemnation in order to avoid his conscience. When he does this, what exactly is he doing? The Word of God is the condemnation of the sin of theft. When he rejects the Word of God, the man next finds that he must reject God so he doesn’t have to listen to this constant preaching all the time, condemning his life of sin. In effect he calls God a liar. He judges God and places himself above God and tries to make God his servant. At this point the man has become a complete servant of his sin and his new master is Satan.
But he’s living in a fantasy world; he’s living an illusion. To avoid bowing to Satan outwardly the man may simply say he believes in a different set of rules. Note the TV preacher, Pat Robertson, who recently said it's okay to divorce a spouse with Alzheimer’s disease and remarry as long as you make sure the sick spouse is taken care of. Never mind taking up your cross every day and following Christ, never mind the promise of fidelity ‘till death do us part. The man in our example can say he loves God but now he belongs to a different religion with a different set of rules. But God is never the servant of man. Eventually the man dies and he enters eternity where God’s right order is established forever.
If someone asks us do we love God, we will, of course, say yes. How do we prove that? We know how God proved His love for us, humbling Himself to become like one of us, suffering and dying for us, and giving us His Gospel of Love. How do we know that we love God? Jesus told us how: “…If any one love me, he will keep my word. . . He that loves me not keeps not my words. (John 14: 23,24) God’s words, His commandments, His will – these are one and the same thing. God commands us to believe in Him and be faithful to Him. (1st Commandment) Further, we should be subject to and respectful of our parents and those placed over us. Superiors should treat those under them with kindness and love. We should feel contempt for both the praise and condemnation of others. St. Ambrose, a fellow with a sense of humor wrote, “If any one despises us, we ought not be troubled, but think, on the contrary, that if they really knew us as we are, they would say much worse [things] about us.” If someone condemns us, forgive them and go out of your way to do a good service for them. Accept with patience any sufferings that come our way and make good use of them by coming closer to God.
Our bodies encourage us to do evil, while our conscience and God’s grace encourage us to do good. So to love God is to struggle, to courageously resist all temptations. This is how we shall prove our love of God. This is how we will be able, like the martyrs, to sacrifice everything, rather than sin against God, Whom we love. Nothing in this life will make us completely happy because nothing in the world can satisfy our hearts except the love of God. When we die, everything we possess will pass in to other hands and everyone we love we will leave behind. “Love God, and prove your love by serving Him faithfully, and ardently strive to possess Him, and the love of God will be your salvation at the hour of death.” (St. John Vianney, Sermon, 14th Sunday after Pentecost.)
When we go to claim this treasure of our love of God at the end of our lives, we will find ourselves in the presence of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost where we will enjoy, as St. Thomas Aquinas put it in his Prayer After Mass, “fullness of content, joy for evermore, gladness without alloy, consummate (perfect) and everlasting happiness.” Through Christ our Lord. Amen. +++
We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass
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