THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost 10 November 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

There is an eagerness on the part of creatures to eliminate the evil that we see around us as quickly as possible. What we lack is the knowledge of the future. It was necessary that Saul was permitted to persecute the Church so that he might later become St. Paul. It was necessary that so many sinners were permitted to live among us so that they might later become the great penitent saints. We have heard many times a quote from St. Augustine: "There is no saint without a past and there is no sinner without a future." Only God can tell which sinner, schismatic, or heretic will become the next penitent saint.

While we must look with patience upon the people in the clutches of evil that live around us, we must nonetheless, be ruthless towards the evil that is within ourselves. Christ came to save the sinner and the lost, so those around us may yet see His mercy, and we may yet see His wrath.

The evil of sin that has defiled our souls must be the focus of our attention rather than the sins of others. If we are to help others, we must first begin by helping ourselves. The person steeped in his own evil can do nothing to truly assist his fellow man in sin. When the sinner repents, he has gained a wonderful position for himself, but he likewise has obtained a stable platform from which to reach out to his fellow man and invite them to the graces and mercy of repentance. 

The attitude of the penitent is not one of arrogance or superiority, but is rather one of humility and charity. Seeing his fellow man in error he reaches out to help him, not destroy him; to lift him up to the spiritual joys of grace. The attitude of the charitable penitent is a polar opposite of the attitude of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like the rest of men. The penitent sees the evil of others, not with eyes to condemn or destroy, but rather with eyes of compassion. The sins of others become exceptional cause of sorrow and charity. The penitent considers himself, and how he could very easily be in that same situation or worse, and only desires to come to the aid of his fellow man for the greater honor and glory of God and the salvation of his fellow man.

There is a false humility and a false charity that we see promulgated by today's Modernist, Protestants, Novus Ordo, Traditionalists, etc. In this approach, they adopt a "humble and charitable" attitude, but they offer their fellow men a false hope, and security in their errors. At the same time, they offer their fellow man the demonic illusion of salvation without penance. They preach a doctrine of salvation without works or repentance. The only way to return to God from sin is through prayer, penance and good works. 

We must be weary of those who look down upon their fellow men with eyes of contempt and superiority, but we must be even more cautious that we do not imitate them and in a foolish misguided zeal seek to root out those that may one day be more pleasing to God than we are. 

Our Lord has mentioned to us that it is necessary that there should be scandal or evil, but woe to those by whom it comes. Evil is necessary in this life so that we have the opportunity to grow in virtue, grace and merit. The evil people in the world thus offer the good the opportunity to practice the virtues and to climb higher in grace and merit for heaven. Evil men therefore are only truly evil to themselves, and have become a great aid to the virtuous around them. If we could truly understand this we would love our enemies more than ever. We should earnestly pray for them and bless them because they are sacrificing their eternal life so that we might grow in grace. Our love for them should truly be the same as the love that we have for ourselves.

We must reach the state of charity where we pray for and forgive all those who have trespassed against us in any way. We repeat with Jesus upon the Cross: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing" Or we pray with St. Stephen, "Lord, lay not this charge against them."

In this light, it becomes easier for us to fulfill God's command to love our enemies and to do good to those who persecute us. In this patience and charity, we do not condone the evil, but rather condemn the evil. Yet, we pray that God's grace will touch the soul of the sinner, or heretic and transform them into a great saint.

We have or may yet find ourselves in the same state as those for whom we pray, and would truly desire that someone may have the same charity towards us and pray and sacrifice so that we may be freed from the evils and blindness that might assail us and thus hinder our love of God and entrance into heaven.