THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Third Sunday after Easter 29 April 2012

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Our Lord speaks to us today referring both to His second coming and to His continual presence with us the Holy Eucharist.

Time may not appear to be “a little while” as it is passing by but after it is past and we are looking back at it then we will truly understand this it was only a little while. We notice this even in this life but, once we enter into eternity and begin to truly grasp what “forever” really means then there will be no doubt that the longest time here on earth is truly just a little while.

It will not be very long then, until Christ returns. So we must always be careful and watchful.

We see Christ in the Holy Eucharist with our faith, but once our faith is made complete (in a little while) we will see Him again. Many of the saints beheld Our Lord physically manifest in the Holy Eucharist. The little while of the blindness of faith gives way to seeing Him again.

We must not become impatient or try to force the workings of God’s timetable or His grace. We must ever remain calm in faith trusting that all will be made manifest and clear to us when it is best for God and even for our own souls.

The childish whims and flights of fancy of so many who call themselves Catholic are actually an insult to the inscrutable ways of God. How often we wonder what is holding back the hand of God, or why does He not strike now, or why does He not manifest Himself more clearly now so that it would be easier for us to truly believe. We even hear of the questioning of God’s ways when people wish that they were not born in this present age but lived when (they imagine) the life of faith would have been easier for us to live. These thoughts and desires really amount to a questioning of God and His ways, and logically it leads to questioning if God really knows what He is doing. The pride and vanity on the part of man seems to be hidden from our direct view. Who are we to ever question the ways of God? All that God does is done well and is done at the proper time and place. 

For us now to find that God’s presence is eclipsed from our view not only physically but even spiritually with the manifest proliferation of Modernism, and Neo-Paganism, is no reason to question the ways of God, much less is it a reason to doubt His words. 

These and so many other popular ways of thinking are mere childishness or even foolishness. It is as we are told time to put off the ways of children and put on the ways of adults. 

As adults in the Catholic faith we must remain calm and peaceful even in the midst of trials and tribulations. We must mature in our faith so that we trust God and His words even without physical manifestations or proof of it. 

Patience is not found in children because they have not the experience and therefore the understanding that everything takes time. Children must learn that things happen with time, and that they seldom happen at a rate that is pleasing to them. Maturity teaches them to remain calm and patient and then all will be accomplished. The same is true with our faith. The young and the weak in the faith are always looking for immediate proof or confirmation of the Faith; whereas the more mature who have advanced somewhat in the spiritual life are more trusting and patient as they believe, understand, or know that in due time all things work for the greater honor and glory of God and for the salvation of men.

There is no panic among the spiritually mature when scandals, and immorality abound; there remains a calm that comes from the understanding that no matter how bad things are, God can and will make some greater good come from it all – “in a little while.”