THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost 26 August 2012

The Sunday Sermon

 

Dear Friends,

Leprosy is a sign of sin – not every kind of sin, but rather only outward sins; and chiefly the sins of heresy and schism. This evil disease is carried about by all those separated from the Church. Excluded from the Church as lepers are excluded from society, they are abandoned to fend for themselves when they have no means of providing for themselves. Those excluded from the Mystical Body search and attempt to feed themselves from the Sacred Scriptures only to find these truths indigestible so that they set out to season and modify God’s word to make it more palatable to their diseased souls. In this “seasoning” and watering down of the truth, the efficaciousness of this food is destroyed. It is very much like the “empty calories” that we hear about in the world today – fake food with calories but no nutritious value. This is what those excluded from the Church find in the Scriptures guided by their own “personal” interpretations and separated from the traditions of the Church.

All are sinners and all fail, but there is a difference between the sinner who falls within the Church and the one that falls outside the Church. Within the Church sinners humble themselves and fall prostrate on their faces before God. In this fall they see where they are going and can fall safely in all humility with the faith and hope that they will be lifted up again. Those who fall outside the Church are like the persecutors of Our Lord that, “They went backward and fell to the ground” (John xviii 6). The wicked cannot see where they are falling – the extent of pain and suffering in Hell is not visible to these just as one who falls backwards cannot see where he is falling. Those who fall inside the Church see the eternal punishment and with a contrite and humble spirit seek forgiveness and an opportunity to do penance and repair the evil of their sins before the fall is complete and irremediable. The lepers in the gospel today are outside the pale of society and find themselves in these desperate circumstances.

There are many – actually the majority of mankind – that find themselves outside of the True Church, but the number of those who recognize their misery are very few. Most of these continue to feed themselves with corrupted food – adulterated scriptures and traditions – falling backwards as it were into the depths of Hell. Some of those outside the Church through the grace of God see and understand their dire straits as the ten lepers in today’s gospel; They know that their only hope is in Jesus and His Church and seek to be healed by God. Jesus will have them enter the Church – “go show yourselves to the priests …” If we are to find the health giving food to give and sustain our spiritual lives it is only to be found in the Church. All heretics and schismatics are told to return to health by the same means: “show yourselves to the priests.” Those who will not obey this command will not receive true and proper nourishment for their souls and will continue in the leprosy of sin.

All ten of the lepers in the gospel today obeyed the command to show themselves to the priests and all ten were outwardly cleansed of their diseases. Of the ten only one returned to show his gratitude to God and consequently only one heard the consoling words of Jesus that healed not only his body but also his soul. The nine entered society again and were outwardly cleansed but inwardly still carried their sins on their souls. History and our own current observations concur that many of the conversions to the True Church are only outward conversions. Many appear as Catholics but still carry their damnable disease of sin within them. The healing is not complete. While claiming the name of Catholic they still criticize, mock or ignore what She says and teaches; they are hypocrites pretending to be Catholic while remaining rebels in their hearts.

In examining ourselves, if we find ourselves to be converts returning to the Faith of our ancestors, let us always strive to be grateful as the one leper and receive inward healing as well as outward. It is not enough to be Catholic outwardly; we must also be one inwardly.

It is a sad state that many in the world find themselves – they are children of Protestants (heretics and schismatics) who have inherited this leprosy from their parents often unaware of the terrible disease they carry; unaware that they are excluded from the Mystical Body of Christ. There are many Modernist (Novus Ordo) souls that have through the process of gradualism been robbed of the true Faith and contracted this leprosy seemingly completely unaware. Let us never cease to pray for these and try to awaken them to the terrible plight they are in. More heart wrenching than all these are perhaps those who call themselves “traditionalists.” These poor souls have sought to cleanse their leprosy and attempted to enter or retain the True Catholic Faith only to be deceived as to the real identity of the Church. The devils have set up many sects with the appearance of being the Church but are really not. One sure sign of these falsehoods is that they claim “independence” or lack of authority, or jurisdiction. These often appear outwardly as outstanding models of Catholicity but inwardly are far from the spirit of Christ and His Church.

May we always express our gratitude to God for having given us this priceless treasure of the True Catholic Faith; and continue to pray that those outside the Church may someday enter her not as the nine lepers but as the one who received internal as well as external life and health.