Sermon, Third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 16, 2012

Third Sunday of Advent – December 16, 2012

Epistle: Philippians 4: 4-7             Gospel: John 1: 19-28

           

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

            At the end of time and the Second Coming of Christ false prophets will tell us that Christ is in the desert, and in various other places, but they will not tell us where He really is – in the Church, the Church that maintains the lines of succession from the Apostles and has kept and still  teaches the True Faith they passed down to us. Christ resides in that Church, and that Church is the city of our strength. It is Christ that makes it strong and has led it through the ages against the Caesars and other persecuting emperors, against ungrateful princes who stole from the poor, against heretics who have over time denied every article of His Faith, against the so-called reformers who tried to create a Christianity in which His Church had no part, and against the modern philosophers who have set the Church down as just one more system that has been tried and failed and now lies in ruins, and against the followers of Mohammed who try to spread their false faith through terror. All of these have passed away or will pass away, but His Word shall not pass away. (Mark 13:31)

            Thank the Christ Child this Christmas for our Faith that has withstood all attacks. Even as the Vatican II church teaches its many errors, we can take joy along with St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, when in the Fourth Century the Arian heresy controlled almost all Catholic churches. Athanasius told his flock to take heart “for they have the churches but we have the faith.” That is the state of the Church again today as the Modernist heretics have control of almost all Catholic churches. But take heart for even if they have the churches, we have the Faith.

            In today’s Gospel reading, priests and Levites came from Jerusalem to see John the Baptist. This is an indication of the high esteem in which they held John. On other occasions they sent their emissaries to question Jesus, because He was the Son of a lowly carpenter. But John was one of their own, a member of the priestly cast as was his father, Zacharias, who was a prince among the priests of the Old Testament. St. John knew their doctrines and their hypocrisies in twisting the Law of Moses to suit their own financial welfare. They asked John if he was the Christ. John told them, “I am not the Christ.” They asked John if we was Elias. John clearly said, “I am not.” They then asked him, “Who are thou . . .” John answered, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.” (Isaias 40: 3) John fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias when he said this.

            There is a seeming contradiction in Scriptures about who John the Baptist was. He said clearly that he is not Elias, but Jesus said in Matthew 17: 10-13: “And his disciples asked him, saying, why then do the scribes say that Elias must come first? But he answering, said to them: Elias indeed shall come and restore all things. But I say to you, that Elias has already come, and they knew him not . . . Then the disciples understood, that he had spoken to them of John the Baptist.” Also at Matthew 11: 14, Jesus says, “And if you will receive it, [John] is Elias who is to come.” How can it be that John says he is not Elias while the Son of God says he is?

            We can look at Luke 1: 17 to understand. Here the Angel, the messenger of God, tells Zachary, “And he [John the Baptist] shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias.” So John came not as Elias in person, but in the spirit and power of Elias. This spirit and power of Elias is the Holy Ghost, Who was in both Elias and John. What Elias will be to the Second Coming of the Lord, John was to His first coming. John: “to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people,” and “to make straight the way of the Lord.” Elias: “to restore all things.”

            St. Augustine asks who will believe this? And he answers: those who imitate the humility of John and who understand the awesome majesty of the Lord.  We see John’s humility. He could have said, “I am the Christ,” and the priests and Levites were ready to believe him. But he humbled himself before God and said, “I am not the Christ.” We can imitate John’s humility by abandoning our personal opinions about what is truth. I am sure Pontius Pilate was aware of the many conflicting schools of philosophical and religious thought in the Jerusalem of his day. We know that he did not know which school was correct or true because he mocked the very idea of truth when he said to our Lord, “What is truth.” Pilate did not receive the grace to recognize Truth, even when He was standing right in front of him. Compare Pilate to St. Thomas, who did recognize Truth when He stood in front of him, and Thomas in humility said, “My Lord and my God.”

We can, like Sts. John and Thomas, acknowledge that our opinions and the opinions of false religious teachers are not important. Rather, we can acknowledge that what is important is what Christ’s Faith teaches us. We can acknowledge that we are not our own little church, we are not our own little philosophical empire, rather, we are either members of or we are invited to become members of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is His Catholic Church. We, along with our opinions, shall pass away, but His Word, which is found in His Church, shall not pass away. (Matthew 24: 35)

            In a passage following last week’s Gospel reading Christ says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.” (Matthew 11: 12) How can someone commit violence against Heaven? The violence that our Lord is talking about is the violence against ourselves. Fast and abstinence is a violence against ourselves. Jesus is telling us to do what John the Baptist did in order to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. 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

            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 (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.

            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.

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We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass

2nd Sunday of Advent, Dec. 9, 2012

2nd Sunday of Advent – December 9, 2012

Epistle, Romans 15: 4-13;   Gospel, 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 good for us – if we take it to heart. If we think about this, 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? Remember always that today or tomorrow your soul may be reclaimed by God. If you keep that in mind, you will always be ready to meet Him.

            See 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 weight of the cross, crucified, dying – all for love of us. If that is not enough to draw our hearts to him, He then warns us that He will come again in glory to judge us for the life we have led and to reveal to the world all the good and bad that we have done in our lives.  Is there anything else then that we need to make us live and die like saints? Our eternal life is at stake every day of our lives.

             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 prayer and 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.’” If we do not practice the works of mercy we are on the path to hell. But Jesus Christ is waiting for us with open arms and He has shown us the path to reach Him through works of mercy.

            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. He knew who He was. At the River Jordan, John told the crowd, “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sins of the world.”  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 by saying, “Yes, I am he.” If He did, they might have accused Him of giving testimony about himself, as the Pharisees accused Him of doing at John 8: 13. Instead, Jesus tells these two men 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, they later saw Him dying on the cross. This was difficult for many people at that time, and that is why St. Paul wrote at

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.” Let us pray that we will always stand up for our faith in public and always hold ourselves ready for judgment. +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass

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Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, 2012

Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, 2012

Epistle, Proverbs 8: 22-35     Gospel, Luke 1: 26-28

           

“Hail, full of grace,” the Archangel Gabriel said to Mary when he greeted her. It is from this greeting that the Church Fathers conclude that Mary was conceived and born without sin and, further, that sanctifying grace increased in her throughout her life. Therefore, she was “full of grace.”

“Blessed are thou among women,” Gabriel said. St. Augustine’s opinion is that Mary is more blessed because she bore the Son of God in her heart than that she bore Him in her womb. That is to say, she is more blessed through sanctifying grace than through her Divine Motherhood. What a precious gift from Heaven this sanctifying grace is then. In fact, it is more precious than all that the world can offer us. There are three aspects of sanctifying grace we will look at briefly today.  First and foremost, sanctifying grace is our true human dignity. Secondly, it is our true wealth, and thirdly, it is our true happiness in this life and in the next. 

The first aspect, sanctifying grace raises us to our true dignity as children of God. We became a child of God at our Baptism when original sin was washed away and sanctifying grace entered our souls. In this world the child of a King is a prince who belongs to a royal family and is a possible heir to the throne. But our dignity is greater than this as children of God, the King of Kings and we are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven as members of His Royal Family. A beggar and a billionaire can both be raised to this high dignity through sanctifying grace.

A wise king once gave this advice to his son: “Wherever you are, remember always that you are a King’s son, and conduct yourself according to this high dignity.” This is good advice for us, too. Let us remember that we are children of God and conduct ourselves according to this dignity. Avoid everything that is low and mean, avoid conversations and actions which dishonor God and practice works of mercy.

The second aspect is that while sanctifying grace makes us truly great, it also makes us truly wealthy. Many in this world who are rich, are poor when they stand before God and many who are poor in this world are rich before God. Those who do not have sanctifying grace are poor, but those who have it are rich. Remember that the only thing from this life that you will bring with you to heaven is sanctifying grace. Everything else will be left behind. That is why sanctifying grace is the greatest treasure in the world.

Under the Old Law the Book of Wisdom 7: 2 tells us: “Now all good things come to me together with her [meaning wisdom], and innumerable riches through her hands.”  Under the New Law, with sanctifying grace come all other graces because with it we are members of that body, of which Jesus Christ is the head. When we possess sanctifying grace we share in the merits of Jesus and His saints, and in the treasure of grace Jesus left to His Church. We can say along with Psalm 118: 63: “I am a partaker with all them that fear thee, and that keep thy commandments.” We share in all the prayers and good works done by the Saints and the just because we stand in a living communion with them, which is called the Communion of Saints.

Solomon prayed for one thing: wisdom. It was granted to him and along with wisdom all good came to him at the same time. Let us pray to God and to Mary for one thing: sanctifying grace, because with that comes all good.

The third aspect of sanctifying grace is true happiness. Where sanctifying grace is, there also is a good conscience. If our conscience is troubled by the weight of deadly sins, also called mortal sins, we cannot be happy. So where a good conscience is you will find sanctifying grace and true happiness. In a soul weighed down with mortal sins you will not find happiness because the Holy Ghost cannot enter into such a soul.

Sanctifying grace also gives us hope to get us through the sad and difficult times we all suffer through in life. This hope allows us to say along with St. Paul, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8: 18)  Sanctifying grace, coupled with a good conscience, also brings us consolation and support during those times of suffering.

“There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.” (Isaias 48:22) If the wicked have no peace, they also do not have consolation in life or in death. They are unhappy in time and in eternity. Let us avoid wickedness and sin and pray to Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God, that we will have a pure heart and a soul that is full of grace. +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass

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1st Sunday of Advent - Dec. 2, 2012

1^st Sunday of Advent – December 2, 2012

Epistle, Romans 13: 11-14  -  Gospel, Luke 21: 25-33

                Today we celebrate the beginning of Advent which is the season of the coming of our Lord.  Jesus Himself told us that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8: 32)  St. Bernard says in thinking about the reason for the season we should understand that the universal Church would not  commemorate Advent unless it contained a sacred mystery. So we inquire about six circumstances of Advent and ask: (1) Who is coming, (2) Where does He come from, (3) How does He come, (4) Why does He come, (5) When does he come and (6) The ways in which He comes.

            In asking who is coming, consider “how great a man this is” as St. Paul writes in Hebrews 7: 4. According to the testimony of the Archangel Gabriel he is “the Son of the Most High, (Luke 1: 32).  As the sons of princes are also princes, the Son of God is also God. We can also ask why it is not the Father nor the Holy Ghost who comes at Advent, but the Son. We have already noted that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, so we can say let the Truth come, that the lies of Satan may be laid open, that we may know the Truth and it shall make us free of error.  Jesus came out of love for His creation, Matthew 23: 37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered together thy children, as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings.” This is Jesus’ declaration of love for His children.

            Now we consider Number 2, where does he come from, and along with that, where does He go. Jesus comes from the Heart of God the Father and into the womb of the Virgin Mary. We are changed because of His presence among us. Psalm 72: 25 describes our feelings towards Him: “Besides thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever.” The Son of God descended to earth and even into hell itself, not as one held there in punishment, but as one “free among the dead” (Psalm 87: 6), and “as a light which shineth in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1: 5) How Jesus comes, Number 3, is another mystery. God became man through a virgin birth. If we believe Scriptures, the revealed Word of God, and if we believe that Christ’s Church has authority to teach this mystery, and then we know the virgin birth is true.  We can only wonder about God’s love for us and ask, along with Psalm 7: 17, “Lord, what is man that thou shouldst magnify him? Or why does thou set thy heart upon him?” We can also ask: why didn’t we go to Him rather than He coming to us? It’s not normal for a rich man to come to a poor man. Two things prevented us from coming to Him: (1) through sin our eyes were dim and groping, and (2) as St. Paul tells us, “He inhabiteth light inaccessible” (1 Timothy 6: 16). Many generations laid in sin and error pining waiting for His Advent.

            We can now ask Number 4: Why does He come, and the answer is simple, to find the sheep that have strayed from the Fold. He came for our sakes. How wondrous is the dignity of the Lord, who comes seeking, and how wonderful the dignity of mankind that we are sought for by God.

            Now let us ask Number 5: When does He come. He did not come at the beginning of time, He came at the end of time. Even though we children of Adam tend to be ungrateful, the Son of God came when we were in most need of His mercy. It was when the sunshine of justice was low and its light and warmth had almost disappeared from the earth, when knowledge of divine things was at a low point, when sin abounded throughout the world, and when charity had grown cold, “Then said I,  behold I come,” as Jesus told us through the psalmist in Psalm 39: 8. As St. Paul puts it, “when the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son.” (Galatians 4: 4)

The last question to consider is Number 6: the ways in which He comes. We should know these ways, because it is fitting that we His children go out to meet Him. He came once to us as a Man visibly. He has returned to His Father in heaven. Now He comes to us, first of all, in spirit, invisibly, to redeem individual souls. Jeremias wrote: “The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins,” and so we know this coming is invisible Jeremias continues, “Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.” (Lamentations 4: 20) We can hasten to meet God in ourselves. “The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.” (Romans 10: 8) Confess Jesus Christ with your mouth, in your prayers and all your daily living; and these things are said of that Advent where he illuminates individuals souls with his invisible light.

Now, to His visible coming.  “Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1: 23, Isaiah 7: 14) For 33 years he was with us until His time had come and He suffered and died for our sins. Even then, he came back from the dead and promised to be with us always, even to the end of time. Every day Jesus makes Himself available to us in the Eucharist, Holy Communion. When we look at the Eucharist we see bread and wine, but we understand that it is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He has kept His promise, He is always with us.

Satan is now caught in the trap he set. He accused God of lying and of being envious, but in both cases Satan is proved to be the liar. He is the father of lies (John 8: 44) He told Eve, “No you shall not die the death.” (Genesis 3: 4) Of course, Eve died. As to being envious, we can ask: of what fruit of which tree should God be envious? God gave us even His own sublime Fruit, “For he that spared not even his own Son, and how hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?” (Romans 8: 32) In Christ “Lie hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, (Colossians 2: 3), but in Satan are all the lies and hopelessness of hell. +++

Next Saturday is the Feast of The Immaculate Conception,

a Holy Day of Obligation

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass