Dedication of Basilicas of Sts Peter & Paul & 25th Sun after Pentecost Nov 18, 2012

Feast of Dedication of Basilicas of Sts. Peter & Paul, Nov. 18,  2012

Epistle, Apocalypse 21: 2-5    Gospel, Luke 19: 1-10

25^th Sunday after Pentecost

            The dedication of a Church is a solemn event and that is because a Church is the House of God. At the beginning of our Lord’s Church, during the Roman persecution, Catholics used to meet and celebrate Mass in peoples’ homes and other private places. When the persecutions ended the great Churches were built.  In Rome they were built by Constantine the Great and two of the greatest he built are the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul.

          Just how important a Church is we learn from Jesus, who threw the money changers out of the Temple because they disgraced His Father’s House. (Matthew 21: 12, 13) We learn this also from St. John: “And I heard a great voice from the throne saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men and he will dwell with them.” (Apocalypse 21: 3)

          As time went on, rules were developed for the building of a church and on the use of an altar. Today, however, we have returned oftentimes to meeting in peoples’ homes to celebrate Mass, and this is the case in my home. God lives in the tabernacle here on the altar and because God is in these Catholic tabernacles, even the most humble church is greater than the great Temple of King Solomon because the Messiah is here, body and blood, in our tabernacles.

          After the Captivity in Babylon, the Jews returned to their homeland and began to rebuild Solomon’s temple. This project began over the objections of some of the Jews, but God spoke to the prophet Aggeus (Ages). His book takes up only about three pages in the Bible. God said to Aggeus: “Go up to the mountain, bring timber and build the house: and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified.” (Aggeus 1: 8) The people noted that the new temple they were building was not a splendid as Solomon’s temple, but God again spoke to Israel through Aggeus: “The word that I covenanted with you when you came out of the land of Egypt: and my spirit shall be in the midst of you: fear not. . . . yet one little while, and I will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will move all nations: and the desired of the nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory.” (Aggeus 2: 6-8)

          The “desired of the nations” is the Messiah, and Jesus did enter that temple they were building and He filled it with glory by His presence there, just as He fills the chapel we are in with glory by His presence here.  

          Today is the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul. St. Peter was unquestionably the leader of the Apostles. He was also the leader of the Catholic Church, the first Pope. Peter was committed to his religion as we know from the vision he had (Acts 10: 9-16) where he was told to kill and eat animals that the Jews called unclean. Peter’s response was: “Far be it from me; for I never did eat any thing that was common and unclean.” The fact that Peter never ate anything unclean tells us that he was a man committed to his faith. Peter was also impetuous and quick-tempered. When Christ was taken in the Garden Peter immediately grabbed his sword and cut off the ear of the Chief Priest’s servant. Peter was the first Apostle to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and also the one who denied three times that he knew him. But after our Lord’s Resurrection and after Peter was confirmed with the Holy Ghost on Pentecost Sunday, his strength of faith showed forth for the rest of his life.

          St. Paul was also a man of faith. He was a Jew and a Roman citizen. Gen. Pompey went through Tarsus at one point, where Paul was from, and some Jewish craftsmen made a large number of tents for his troops in a short time. Pompey was impressed by their work and he gave them the gift of Roman citizenship. Paul was a tentmaker and it’s possible that Paul’s family were among that group given Roman citizenship. Paul was sent for advanced schooling in the Jewish faith and he studied under Gamaliel, one of the most knowledgeable teachers of the time. The High Priest put Paul (then known as Saul) in charge of arresting Christians, and this was a position of trust.

          On this day of the dedication of their churches, we can contemplate their lives and their deaths. They gave their lives rather than to change their story, rather than diminish Christ in any way. We should also think about dedicating our lives to Christ as Peter and Paul did. It’s not likely we’ll be martyred violently like they were, but when you live your life for Christ you will suffer a slow martyrdom of sorts as you deny to yourself the pleasures of the world and the world in turn will deny you and consider you an outsider. I urge you to stand with Christ to the full, and I remind you what Jesus told his disciples in his last talk with them, “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” (John 16: 33)

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(Thanks to Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ and Fr. Gabriel Lavery, CMRI for today’s sermon)

24th Sunday after Pentecost, 5th After Epiphany Nov 11, 2012

5^th Sunday After the Epiphany, and

24th Sunday after Pentecost – November 11, 2012

Epistle, Colossians 3: 12-17         Gospel: Matthew 13: 24-30

            In today’s Gospel Jesus gives the people another parable, a simple story used to illustrate a moral or religious lesson. Jesus often used parables to instruct the crowds that followed Him. If He taught them Catholic dogma they would have lost interest and gone to sleep. But a story about things that they know and see in their everyday lives is something interesting. We listen and pay attention to stories. Today’s parable then is about the man who sowed good wheat seed in his field, but while he and his men were sleeping an enemy came and sowed tares in with the wheat. A tare is a common weed that today we call vetch. It is one of the tricks of the devil to mix falsehoods, the vetch, in with the truth, the wheat seeds. These tares look like wheat when both are sprouting from the ground, and the difference between them is not noticed until the roots of both are well established in the ground. So, if you rip the tares out of the ground you would  destroy the young wheat plants as well. The man who planted the good seeds tells his workers to wait until harvest time when the harvesters will gather up the tares, then tie them into bundles and throw them in the fire. Next the wheat will be gathered into His barn. His barn in the parable is the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Gospel parable just before today’s reading is about the man who sowed seed, where some fell by the wayside, some fell on stony ground, some fell among thorns, but others fell on good ground and yielded a good harvest. In both parables the wayside, the stony ground, the thorns and the tares all represent weak Christians. These weak Christians fill the church, but torment it by leading sinful lives. We are warned not to be like those who say, “I have sinned, and what harm has come to me?” They should remember, it is not yet harvest time. The Lord is a “patient rewarder.” We dare not say, “The mercy of the Lord is great, he will have mercy on the multitude of my sins.” (Ecclesiasticus 5: 4, 6) That is called presuming on the mercy of God. Rather, we ought to strike our breast and say, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner,” like the publican did in the synagogue. (Luke 18: 13) This is how we will escape the wickedness of the world, and how we will find good days in our lives. The reapers that come at harvest time are God’s angels. They will not make a mistake. They will pick out all the vetch, all the sinners, and cast them into the fires of Hell. Then they will gather all the good wheat into the Kingdom of Heaven.  

In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks of the way the devil works: “while men are asleep.” This is a warning to those charged with the care of the Church, the bishops and priests. We can see throughout history that when Truth has been sown, error follows soon after. After St. Paul came Docetism, the heresy that said Jesus only appeared to have a body, that He was not truly a man. While the Truth of the Ten Commandments were being given to Moses, many Jews were preparing a golden calf to worship. The history of heresy dates back to Satan’s prideful boast: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . . I will be like the most High.” (Isaias 14: 12-15)

            This sleeping, not being watchful, has been a problem throughout Church history. Many heretics have held positions of trust in the Church. At first concealing their true selves, they later acquire boldness and are entrusted with teaching positions. Then they pour forth their poison among the faithful. Our Lord tells us that these things “must needs be.” (Matthew 18: 7) We have been given a free will; so it is for us to choose between good and evil. Heresies will appear, but the day must come when they will be rooted up and die.  It is the same with the sexual scandals that plague the Church today. They are a hard trial for the faithful, but trials also must come.  As difficult as these trials are, the mixing of good and evil is to our advantage because it teaches the faithful not to put their hopes in man, but only in God. Then, too, the mercy of God is so great that at times the weeds, the heretics, the sinners, will themselves be converted and become the faithful children of God. Therefore, we must have patience. But since it is when men are sleeping that the enemy comes and poisons the faithful, we must always pray for our priests and bishops to be continually vigilant against error. This is such an essential quality in a bishop that the very word “bishop” means “one who watches.” +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass

23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Nov. 4, 2012

23^rd Sunday after Pentecost – November 4, 2012

Epistle Philippians 3: 17-21, 4: 1-3  ◊  Gospel Matthew 9: 18-26

While his daughter is sinking into the quiet of death, a ruler approaches our Lord in torment. St. Mark tells us this was Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue. Matthew tells us Jairus  adored Him first, which means he recognized Jesus as God. But there is another important reason we know that Jairus recognized Him as God -- he asked Jesus to lay His hand on his daughter. Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue and therefore had studied scripture. He knew that all creation was made by the word of God, but that man was made by the hand of God. Jairus believed that the same hand that created her could now lay His hand upon his daughter to remake her.

But a woman who suffered from a bleeding illness for 12 years stopped our Lord on His way. We can assume the illness had consumed much of her money on “cures” that didn’t work, but it did not consume her faith. She knew, because her faith told her so, that if she could only touch the hem of his garment she would be cured. This woman saw in the hem of Christ’s garment the power of His divinity.

She was considered unclean by others because of her illness and therefore she was embarrassed to approach Jesus openly. She approached through the crowd from behind Him as He passed by, and reached out and touched His garment. As St. Mark tells us in his account of this incident, “she felt in her body that she was healed.”  Jesus knew what she had done and He turned to her and said, “Be of good heart, daughter; thy faith has made thee whole.” She was now able to live a normal life in the society of her day, and when Jesus tells her to “be of good heart,” He is cautioning her to remain strong in her faith and avoid sin till the end of her life.

This woman is important to us because she gives us the manner of a secret confession by which a sinner may wipe away sin, and how the sinner, whose sins are known only to God, is not forced to bare the shame of his conscience in public, and how through pardon men can forestall judgment. Her story foreshadowed the Sacrament of Penance or Confession.

Jesus tarried with the woman because He knew what was forthcoming. He knew Jairus’ daughter would die, and He knew the lesson He wished to teach when He raised her from the dead. When they arrived at the home of Jairus, Jesus tells all the mourners and musicians to leave. He brings into the room with Him Peter, James and John and the mother and father of the dead girl. He tells them she is not dead, but sleeping. He takes her hand and says, “Maid, I say to thee arise,” and instantly the dead girl awakens, gets up and walks.  Christ spoke not to her body, which was already beginning to return to dust, but He commanded her soul to reenter her body and give it life once again.

St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15: 52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead shall rise.” This is how quick the resurrection of all of us will happen. The prophet Ezechiel had a vision of the resurrection, as he reported in Chapter 37, when he was brought to a field containing a very large number of the dry bones of the dead. He was told by God to pray and preach to them, and before his eyes the bones were joined together with muscle and blood and skin and souls.

Death places all of us on a common level as all of our honors and wealth and pleasures disappear with us into the grave as we return to the dust we came from. We who follow Christ are not supposed to mourn the loss of earthly things including the loss of our lives. But those who are of the world greatly mourn the loss of the wealth and pleasures of earth. We, however,  are reminded by St. Paul that the “fashion of this world passes away.” (1 Corinthians 7: 31) It passes away with us.

Consider also, that when we die the dangers to our salvation die with us, as there are no more temptations, no more risks of ever offending God again. For the just who have led lives of innocence or who have done penance for their sins, they will find in death all that they ever hoped for and more. They will find the eternal vision of the Blessed Trinity. St. Paul tells us: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.”  We will find unspeakable joy and this joy will last forever. St. Augustine added: The felicity, that is, the happiness of heaven can be acquired, but never estimated; it can be merited, but not described.

We all must certainly wish to have a holy and happy end, to die a good death. Well, then, let us lead a good life; for a good life is always followed by a good death. Let us guard against every injustice and every sin, and if we have sinned let us bring forth fruits worthy of penance. Stand firm in the Lord, cling to our true Catholic faith, and serve God with fidelity all the days of our lives. Then we may confidently hope that our last hour will be the happiest of our whole lives, for we will die the death of the just. The father of a bishop I know, who was dying, when asked by his physician if he wanted to be resuscitated, said, “Oh, no, I’ve been waiting for this all my life.” If we follow Christ, we also can wait with anticipation of being with Him in His kingdom. +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass