THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost 11 August 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

“Blessed are the eyes that see the things that you see.” What is it that the followers of Christ see, that the prophets and kings had not seen? It must be something more than Christ in His humanity. The Scribes and Pharisees all saw Christ in human flesh, but they were not blessed. On the contrary, we see that they as well as the heretics and all those who reject Jesus are damned.

There must be a spiritual vision or sight that only the followers of Jesus are privy to; that the rest of the world remains completely ignorant of. This sight or understanding of God was hinted at and alluded to throughout the Old Testament. The prophets often spoke of it but, were themselves unable to understand or view the very prophesies that were given to them. There was a longing for the revelation of God, principally because they understood in what darkness they were living.

Jesus speaks of Himself as the Light. And in this analogy He has come to dispel this darkness. All who believe Jesus have this darkness lifted from their spiritual eyes. There is a development or growth that souls generally must go through in the Spiritual life. God first gives us a grace to which we must correspond and then He adds another. As long as we continue to correspond with His grace we advance. The moment we reject or turn away, we lose grace and turn back to the darkness from whence we came.

God inspires a soul to believe in Him, or perhaps to love Him. If we correspond with this grace we grow in faith, hope and charity. As one virtue advances, we advance in the others as well. Not always in the same measure or at the same time. Each soul must follow the graces that he has at the moment and not try and force the hand of God. We cannot give grace to ourselves, we can only cooperate with it.

If we make the leap of faith and believe simply because Christ has spoken through His Church (The Holy Roman Catholic Church), then the faith is rewarded with a light that enables the mind to better see or understand; the heart is increased or opened up for greater love. If we correspond with these graces we increase in hope, love, and faith, and the cycle continues. Stage by stage our lives are to be one continuous progression in perfecting ourselves through these virtues. Ultimately, our souls see more and more light and will no longer be blinded by the clear and open vision of God in all His glory. If God were to show us Himself in all His glory without allowing our eyes to grow accustomed to the Light we would die from the brilliance.

Sadly, more often than not, souls refuse to believe and return to their darkness. Many even pretend to understand the things of faith and argue them as if they truly know. We see rationalists always explaining away the mysteries of God. Their wisdom is the height of folly. Their “light” is utter darkness. This was the way with so many in the days of the Apostles. The heretic Scribes and Pharisees “knew” the Law but did not know the author of the Law. They imagined that they saw clearly, while in reality they were stumbling in the dark. The pride that they had within them -- in their imagined understanding of the Law -- blinded them to the Light and truth of God.

We observe the same today. The truths and light of God cannot be understood or seen by those who have rejected Christ. The doctrines of God are rejected as folly by the world. For example the Protestants and the world in their darkness are scandalized and reject the clear teachings of Christ and His Church. Some have suggested that Catholics not preach or lay emphasis upon certain doctrines that are offensive or scandalous to the Protestants. This would amount to a denial of the truth and of Christ and this, the Church can never do. We must not worry ourselves over the “sensibilities” of those outside the Faith. If they are “scandalized” by the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, that is their problem; we must not water down but rather speak out even more boldly and loudly in her praise. We have the example of Jesus Himself in this manner. When He taught that we must eat His Body and drink His Blood to have life in us, many were scandalized and turned away from Him. He did not water this doctrine down to appease them; rather He spoke of it even more forcefully and even challenged His own disciples and Apostles: “Will you leave Me also?”

The doctrine of the Holy Eucharist is perhaps the greatest blindness or darkness that falls upon the world, but it is not the only one. It does not matter which doctrine is denied our doubted, for turning away from God in any way -- even the smallest way -- is a turning from light to darkness. Despite the Protestants’ and the devils’ ability to quote scripture, they are nonetheless in darkness and cannot see God who is Truth Itself.

Let us pray for these poor souls deluded by pride into believing that darkness is light, but most importantly let us thank God for the grace of true faith and renew our Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity daily. There is nothing that those in darkness can do to help others with them in the same darkness. We must humbly secure ourselves in these virtues and the light before we can truly help anyone who still remains in darkness.