Sermon, 9th Sunday after Pentecost, July 21, 2013

9th Sunday after Pentecost – July 21, 2013

Epistle,  1 Corinthians 10: 6-13             Gospel,  Luke 19: 41-47

            Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He was the promised Messiah and brought great graces to His chosen people, but they would not accept Him. He cried over the loss of so many souls.  With all that Jesus has done for us, beginning with the creation of the universe, through His Passion and gruesome death, and continuing with the gift of Himself in the Eucharist and the forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament of Confession, how is it possible that any soul could ignore Him or reject Him?

            Do we know the value of our souls? We know that, like God, our souls will continue to exist eternally. Do we know the true beauty and perfection of these souls created by God.? We are created in the image and likeness of God, and that image is reflected in our soul’s ability to reason, to love and to act on our own free will. Our reason allows us to recognize the perfections and beauty of God. Our soul is loved by the Three Persons in God Who created it, and we in turn show our love to Him by adoring Him in all His works, and adoring Him throughout eternity.  Our soul has the free will to adore God or not adore Him.  But those who do adore Him know a happy life because God resides in their souls, and because of this, they know happiness no matter how difficult life becomes.

            God has put in our souls desires that cannot be fulfilled in our lives.  We are poor in spirit, but ready to bear a painful and humble life. We mourn the loss of our loved ones, even while we pray in hope for their souls. We are meek, but suffer abuse by the strong.  We hunger and thirst for justice, but always come up short. We are merciful to others, but are scorned by many.  We may be pure in heart, but in our lives we must deal with other hearts filled with hatred. We try to make peace among those who profit from controversy and war, but again are scorned and ignored.  And we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, but continue to live and preach it.  Jesus tells us that “Blessed” are those who suffer these things. To be blessed in this sense means to be honored, made holy.  In other words, to be invited into God’s kingdom where we will see Him face to face, and where all the good and all the pleasure we could ever hope for on earth will be ours.

We will never be fully satisfied in this life for the reason that God has created our souls for Himself.  As St. Augustine put it: “Lord, You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless ‘till they find rest in You.”

            God well knows the value of our souls. He could find no worthier gift for us than His own Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  Our soul is so precious in His eyes that He even assigned an angel to look after each one He Created, our Guardian Angel.  St. Bernard wrote, “How happy we are that our bodies harbor a soul which is adorned by such beautiful graces.”   Knowing the value of souls so well, is it any wonder that our Lord wept bitterly over their loss?

            Before God had the human eyes of His Son to weep with, He borrowed the eyes of His prophets who spoke repeatedly of mourning and weeping, both in repentance and because of the destruction God rains upon us because of our sins. We are miserable when we destroy our soul with sin. It’s like forced dialog in a “B” movie – we know people don’t really talk like that, just as we know that people aren’t really happy when they live in sin, no matter how much force themselves to think they are.  The Prophet Joel (1: 8)  tells us to weep at the loss of souls, as a young wife who has just lost her husband.  The loss of a soul is a great tragedy.

            To understand the value of your soul consider, firstly, that only God, Himself, in the Person of His only Son, Jesus, could pay the price, to Himself, to redeem our souls from the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. And, second, notice that during all our lives we are tempted by Satan to sin and to destroy our soul. It is enough to know he is our enemy, and only with Christ’s grace can we overcome him.  Considering this, we can understand that the only thing we own that has intrinsic or real value is our soul. We often think that gold has intrinsic value, but we cannot take gold into eternity with us.  Now we can easily answer the question that Jesus asked: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8: 36)  It profits him nothing, because to suffer the loss of our soul is to suffer the loss of everything of value.  +++

           

(Thanks to St. John Vianney, Curé of Ars)

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass

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Sermon, 8th Sunday after Pentecost, July 14, 2013

8th Sunday after Pentecost – July 14, 2013

Epistle Romans 8: 12-17            Gospel Luke 16: 1-9

The main idea in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is that we are unable to produce perfect justice and absolute good without the grace of God. Nowadays many people have a self-centered and pompous idea that the human mind is independent, but we Christians know that we can only be fully moral and honest in life by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God, that it makes unholy people holy and it enriches those souls who search for perfect justice.

            The Jews were proud of the Law of Moses, and rightly so, because the Law gave them greater grace and understanding than the Gentiles had. However, many Jews made their whole virtue consist in the possession of the Law of Moses and thus rejected the Messiah when He came, even though He was the final purpose of the Law. St. Paul asks in Romans 9: 30-33 how it is possible that Israel, following the Law of justice, did not see the Messiah in Jesus but many Gentiles, not following the Law of justice, did reach Him. Paul answers his own question: Because they did not seek Justice by faith and they tripped on the stumbling-stone that Isaiah prophesied at Isaiah 8: 14 and 28: 16, “Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and a rock of scandal; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded.”

         

          Today’s Gospel reading is a reminder of our judgment. Dom Guéranger wrote that we all have the same very basic vocation – to live, to die, and to be judged. The Unjust Steward in today’s parable was told to give an account of his stewardship. Whatever we have in life, our spouse, our children, parents, money, houses, cars, our personality traits, all the graces God gives us, it is all given for us to use. We will be asked at our judgment if we have used these things for good or for evil. When St. Augustine reflected on the accounting he would have to give of all the graces given to him said, “How unhappy am I, what will become of me, having received so many graces! I am more afraid on account of these graces than on account of the many sins I committed.” We will be asked: “Where are your good works? Where are your prayers which would have rejoiced my heart? Where are your Confessions and Communions which would have caused Me to dwell in your soul?  Where are your penitential works which would have wiped out the temporal punishment for past sins? Where are the Holy Masses that you should have attended which would have brought you closer to Me?” Let’s not appear before Jesus at our judgment with a backpack full of sins. Let’s’ fill them with adoration, prayers and good works and we won’t be so terrified of what is coming.

            There is another lesson in today’s Gospel reading, and that is to encourage us in the giving of alms. As St. John Chrysostom put it: “We are not placed in this life as lords of our own houses, but as guests . . .” We are brought into life whether we wanted to come or not and at a time we did not choose. “Therefore, whoever you may be, know that you are but an administrator of things” that belong to God and that we have only “the right of their brief and passing use.” When we do not administer our wealth in accord with the will of our Master, but abuse it for our own pleasure, we are unjust stewards. Riches possessed by a just man are simply a sum of money.   But riches possessed by an unjust person are a sinful burden of avarice – subject to the risk of loss or theft, a constant source of worry, corrupting their owner with enticements to sin. These  riches are full of poverty. Don’t call your wealth riches. If you do, you will love them: and if you love them, you will perish with them.

St. Gaudentius, bishop of Brescia, Italy, from about 387 to around 410, gives the opinion that the Unjust Steward in this parable stands for the devil. In Genesis, the devil is well depicted as a snake, who is “more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth.” (Genesis. 3:1) In the Latin it is: serpens prudentissimus erat, where prudence is not spoken of as a virtue but as craftiness and cunning. In the parable of the Unjust Steward, the steward cheats his Master in order to ingratiate himself with others who might hire him as a steward when he is let go. The Lord praises him – but not for his goodness. He praises him because he prepared his fraud with such cunning, craftiness and subtleness, like the snake in the Garden of Eden.  By the very phrase “unjust steward” our Lord condemns his wicked prudence. Christ praises him in order to prepare His followers to be prudent, but not venomous; to be wise, but not evil, to use our own cunning and prudence against the Unjust Steward, the devil.

The mammon of iniquity is usually thought of as ill-gotten gains, but there is another interpretation by St. Augustine, that mammon means all the riches of the world however they are obtained.  Consider blessed Job, the undefeated champion of God. Job’s courage was unshakable and he bested every assault of the devil as he came against him with the force of a tidal wave. The more each attempt of Satan appeared irresistible, the higher Job’s patience rose up, superior to every temptation. When Job finally lost everything and stood naked on the Earth, he was truly rich because then his heart was full towards God.  Life and wealth are passing things, but we are called to the fullness of eternal life with our Creator. Eternal life with God is the wealth we seek.

Who can allow us to enter into everlasting blessings except the Lord?  Yet, at the end of the parable Jesus tells us to make “friends of the mammon of iniquity; that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting blessings.” Understand this parable then, that we are to make friends of the poor with our wealth, so that when we die the poor will pray for us and Christ will receive us into His Kingdom. Why make friends of the poor? Because Christ tells us in Matthew 25 that He is poor: “You gave me to eat, to drink, you clothed me, you visited me when I was sick and in prison – that as long as you did this to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” That’s how Christ is poor. And to be just stewards, we must give to the poor, who are our fellow stewards in need.

The parable of the Unjust Steward doesn’t stand alone in the Scriptures as unproven, because in Luke 19, we see an example of it in Christ’s life. When Jesus was walking through Jericho, Zacheus, who was chief of the publicans, a tax collector and a wealthy man, climbed a tree to see the Lord. When Jesus spotted him, he said, “Zacheus, make haste and come down; for this day I must abide in thy house.” Standing before Him then, Zacheus said, “‘Behold, Lord, ‘the half of my goods I give to feed the poor.’”  We see Zacheus making friends of the poor by means of his mammon of iniquity.  And lest he should be held wicked on other grounds Zacheus added: “’And if I have wronged any man of anything, I restore him fourfold.’” And Jesus said to him, “This day is salvation come to this house.”  +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass

Sermon, 7th Sunday after Pentecost, July 7, 2013

7th Sunday after Pentecost – July 7, 2013

Epistle Romans 6: 19-23;              Gospel Matthew 7: 15-21

            The Curé of Ars once asked: “Alas, what has become of us since our conversion?”

God will reward only virtue that perseveres to the end. But what do we do? After Confession, do we go out and commit the same sins again? Then we must persevere in Confession, and afterwards go out and practice the virtues of a person who follows Christ. We have a common expression that someone is “madder than hell.” Well, that someone is Satan when we come out of the Confessional with a clean soul, and he’ll do everything he can to get us back under his power where he wants to keep us.

                                                                                                                               

            So practice living a virtuous life. Practice the virtues given to us at our Baptism: Faith, Hope and Charity. Practice your Faith by doing the things the Church asks of you; attending Mass, going to Confession, praying morning and night and during the day. Practice Hope by reminding yourself of the promised reward for those who persevere, the reward of Justice and of eternity in the presence of God. Practice Charity in all your thoughts and deeds towards your neighbor, whether he is a friend or an enemy. Living a life of sin degrades us, but God’s Justice blesses us with peace of mind every day at every step we take in doing our duty as Christians.

Against the sin of pride, practice humility. Against greed, practice generosity and mercy, against lust practice chastity, against anger practice patience and meekness, against gluttony practice temperance, abstinence and self control, against envy practice love of God, of neighbor and of your enemies, and against sloth (laziness) practice fortitude and diligence, which is continuous effort.

Practice all these virtues continuously, persevere in them until the end. St. Paul tells us in Romans 6  that we will win eternal life if we serve Justice with as much earnestness that we once served uncleanness and iniquity.  

In Apocalypse 2  the Bishop of Ephesus is warned by God about his lack of perseverance. First, God notes all the good works he has done, and then tells him: “But I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity [meaning his zeal of religion]. Be mindful therefore . . . and do penance, and do the first works.” And if he doesn’t, God warns him that He will reject him and punish him. This warning in John’s Apocalypse was also directed at the people of Ephesus, so if a bishop and his subjects with so many good works to their credit are threatened with rejection by God, how much more should we apply that warning to ourselves.

            "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit,” our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel reading. Think of your children when you hear this and think how important it is to raise them as good Christians. We have basic obligations towards our children: to provide them with food, shelter, clothing, education and to raise them in habits of virtue. It’s easy to see that if we spend our lives drinking and gambling and cheating on our spouse, when our children grow up they will do the same because children copy their parents.

            St. Paul tells us in a few words to bring our children up “in the discipline and correction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6: 4)  The discipline of the Lord is nothing more than developing habits of Christian living: attending Mass, going to Confession and practicing the virtues I spoke of earlier. The correction of the Lord is teaching them the faith, especially the four principle mysteries: First, that there is but one God, the Creator and Lord of all things. Second, that God will reward with everlasting joy those who are obedient to Him, and those who are disobedient He will punish with the everlasting torments of hell. Third, that in God there are Three Persons Who are only one God, because They have but one essence. Fourth, that the Word of God, the Son of God, became Man in the womb of the virgin Mary, and Who suffered and died for our sins and Who rose from the dead, all because of His love for us and for the sake of our salvation.

            In the Epistle reading last week, St. Paul stated in clear language a central fact of Christian life: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [Jesus] that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that we may serve sin no longer,” so that we consider ourselves “to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God.”  The Christmas song, Silent Night, says the world lay in sin and error pining. The world was pining, yearning deeply, for the Messiah. He came as promised and He showed us how to live a life of freedom, freedom from sin and error. This is true freedom and comes from living a life of mortification of our spirit of rebellion against Christ. We learn that by mortifying our bodies. In simple words we restrain, with God’s help, the deadly sins of pride, greed, gluttony, lust, sloth, envy and anger so that we can serve Justice with as much earnestness as we once served those seven deadly sins.

To live an ordered and happy life we begin with faith, then proceed to works of Justice. This is how we gain knowledge and wisdom. We do not understand all there is to know about God or about other people, even those we love, but however much we do understand of life, we will always have to labor for Justice. Following Christ is not an easy way to live, but then following Christ has never been for those looking for the easier, softer way. This is tiring work but it leads to a life of accomplishment, a complete life of freedom on earth and joy forever in the Kingdom of our Lord. +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass