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.
- 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
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