Sermon, 10th Sunday after Pentecost, July 28, 2013

10th Sunday after Pentecost  –  July 28, 2013

Epistle 1 Corinthians 12: 2-11                 Gospel Luke 18: 9­-14

            We have been given great encouragement to pray in the parable of the unjust judge (Luke 18: 1-8), which comes just before today’s reading. The widow in that parable repeated her petition to the judge over and over again until he gave her what she asked for just to get rid of her. Jesus asks: Will not God grant the petitions (prayers) of the faithful who cry to him day and night? The parable of the unjust judge begins with Jesus saying: “And he spoke a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint” (not to give up). The unjust judge granted her petition, that he didn’t want to hear, and will not God grant our requests, since He asks us to ask of Him? If our faith fails then prayer fails because faith is the source of prayer. A river cannot run, St. Augustine tells us, if the headwaters are dry. And St. Paul asks: “How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed?” (Romans 10: 14)

            Jesus said, “the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?” (Luke 18: 8) He was talking about perfect faith. If we had perfect faith we could move mountains.  Yet, Jesus tells even His Apostles in the Garden of Olives, “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation.” (Mark 14: 38) St. Augustine asks, “What does it mean, to enter into temptation, if not to depart from the faith? As faith retires, temptation advances.” Our Lord told Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” (Luke 22: 31, 32) The Apostles had great faith, but even they asked, “Lord, increase our faith.” (Luke 17: 5) Our prayers make our faith stronger, and more perfect.  

            Faith is a gift given to the humble, not to the proud. The publican in today’s Gospel was humble, so much so that he would not even lift his eyes toward heaven when he prayed, “O, God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

            In today’s Epistle, St. Paul talks about the graces of prophecy, knowledge, tongues and miracles. If we don’t see these around us today, then we can look to the lives of those saints who had these gifts.  Saints are the common property of all of us, and their biographies are interesting, instructive and exciting.

The special gifts that Paul talks about, these miracles, were necessary in the early days to spread the faith authoritatively. And spread it did, even though the Catholic Faith is contrary to our human inclinations. If someone hurts us we want to hurt him back but we are told to pray for him instead. We want to sleep in on Sunday, but we are told we must attend Mass. We want to eat our fill during Lent, but we are told to fast. The world doesn’t like the discipline of Christ. The resistance to Christians faith by the Roman Empire and others was great, yet the Church quickly spread throughout the world.

St. Augustine observed three incredible things with regard to the miracles that helped  to spread the Faith: 1) that Christ rose from the dead in the flesh and ascended into Heaven, 2) that the world believed He did, and 3) that a small number of men from the bottom rungs of society convinced the world that He did. Those opposed to the Church refuse to believe Number 1, that Christ rose from the dead. They do acknowledge Number 2, that belief in Christ spread throughout the world because they can see that with their own eyes. Thirdly, our opponents can only account for the world-wide spread of the Church by agreeing to Number 3, that a few obscure and ignorant persons spread this faith around the world. As St. Augustine put it: “If people will not believe that the Apostles performed miracles in testimony of the resurrection of Christ, [then] they ask us to believe in a greater miracle, namely, that the whole world did believe without a miracle.” (The City of God, Book 22, Ch. 5)

Regarding today’s Gospel reading, there is no more appropriate teaching as a sequel to the destruction of  Jerusalem,  “. . .  every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.” The Jewish nation, represented by the Pharisees, was proud. This pride destroyed them -- and made possible the salvation of the Gentiles. We today must take care not to fall into the same trap because pride will cause our destruction also. Dom Guéranger writes: “Israel is assured, by prophecy, of a return to God’s favour when the end of the world shall be approaching, (Romans 11: 25-27)  [but] there is no such promise of a second call of mercy to the Gentiles, should they ever apostatize after their baptism.”

We can pause in our lives and look around the world and the universe and reflect on our nothingness, but this is not humility.  Rather, it’s a conviction that forced itself even on the devil and is the chief cause of his rage, because in his pride he wanted to be like God. On the opposite side we can see what happens when the Holy Ghost takes possession of a soul -- He gives us an extraordinary clear-sightedness, both as to who we are in the universe and Who God is.

Satan makes his slaves act out of pride and self-importance. The divine way teaches us humility, and humility leads us to the truth. Jesus told us, “The truth shall make you free.” (John 8: 32) Truth makes us free by liberating us from the tyranny of the father of lies. This is true liberty. But worldly people do not want true liberty, they want sin, and they want everyone to approve of their sinful lives. They want to suppress true liberty. That is why they  persecute those who speak up for what is moral and good. The world does not understand that real greatness consists in The Truth, and that those who have the courage to be humble will find it. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14: 6)  He is the Way to the Truth that we all seek and He will lead us to an eternal Life of joy.    +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass

11th Sunday after Pentecost, August 4, 2013

11th Sunday after Pentecost – August 4, 2013

Epistle 1 Corinthians 4: 1-10                 Gospel Mark 7: 31-37

           

The publican in last week’s Gospel accuses himself, saying “I am not worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven.” St. Paul continues this lesson in humility in today’s Epistle saying, “I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church.” St. Paul puts humility before us so we will practice it because humility prevents us from fighting with each other to see who will be first or best. Humility is that gift from God that causes the “brethren to dwell together in unity .” (Psalm 133, v. 1, 3. KJV Psalm 132)  We acknowledge in today’s Introit that it is God that causes us to live together in the same house, that is, in the same Faith under the Church. Like the publican in last week’s Gospel, we are sometimes too afraid to name our faults, but the Church in today’s Collect prayer asks God to forgive the sins that we are too afraid to ask pardon for.

            St. Paul also shows us in today’s Epistle that even though he is now justified, that is, transformed from the state of unrighteousness to living in a state of sanctifying grace, a state of holiness and sonship of God, humility allows him never to forget his past sins “because I persecuted the Church”, as he put it.  The graces God gives the humble man permit him to see more clearly the enormity and disgrace of his sins. St. Augustine wrote of this, saying St. Paul “glorifies the just and the good God by publishing both the good he has received and the evil of his own acts . . . in order to win over to [Christ] the minds and hearts of all who hear him.” (St. Augustine, Retractationes  2: 6)

            There is more in Paul’s Epistle today, but I have limited my comments to humility, because it is a most important virtue on which depends not only all our progress but also our security in the Christian life. Humility allows us to thank God and praise Him for our lives that we live in a state of sanctifying grace, and humility keeps our pride in check by never forgetting our past sins.

            Jesus also spoke of humility when He said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 19: 13-15) A child’s faith is without any doubt or reservation, and so they give themselves over to love of parents and love of God with complete humility. Children don’t start with logic and arrive at such a love as great as this. To start with logic is to place the logic of our mind above God – in essence to worship ourselves. In Matthew 19  Jesus is urging us to do what children do, “for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.”

In today’s Gospel our Lord took aside the man who couldn’t hear or speak, to perform a miracle away from the crowd, thus teaching us that more miracles are wrought through humility and modesty than through the vanity and pride of public performance. He put His fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue to show that our Lord’s Body is united to His Divinity. He looked up to Heaven and groaned like a man in prayer might do, and then with a single word, “Ephpheta,” healed the man. Jesus could have cured him with a simple thought or word alone, but he looked up to heaven and groaned “to teach us to look up and sigh toward Him Whose throne is in heaven, confessing our need, that our ears should be opened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our tongue loosed by the spittle of our Saviour's Mouth, that is, by knowledge of His Divine Word, before we can use it to preach to others.” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Homily 10, Book 1 on Ezekiel)

The Redeemer’s fingers represent the gifts of the Holy Ghost. On another occasion, after casting out a devil, He said, “But if I by the finger of God cast out devils; doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you.” (Luke 11: 20) This same event is recorded with a different phrase by Matthew: “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you.” (Matthew 12: 28) When we compare the two readings, we learn that the terms “finger of God” and “Spirit of God” have the same meaning. Therefore, for our Lord, Who is God, to put His fingers into the ears of this man means to open the mind of the deaf person to obedience by means of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God.

At our Baptism the priest touched our ears and also said, “Ephpheta, be thou opened,” that is, be thou opened to the Word of God. In an earlier time, God spoke similar words to the Prophet Ezechiel: “And he said to me: Son of man, receive in thy heart and hear with thy ears all the words that I speak to thee. . . And go . . . to the children of thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them; Thus saith the Lord. . .” (Ezechiel 3: 10) In telling us of the miracle of the deaf and dumb man Mark confirms the words of Ezechiel.

Before we received the gift of faith and the sacraments we were not unlike this man who was deaf and dumb. These gifts healed our souls just as our Lord’s gift of a miracle healed this man’s ears and tongue. If we are truly thankful for our gifts we should tell others about them, just as the deaf and dumb man told others about the Lord after his cure. We would not have received the gifts of faith and the sacraments unless our Lord thought we were worthy of them. And we would be foolish indeed if we threw these gifts away rather than sharing them with others. +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass