• "In our time more than ever before, the chief strength of the wicked, lies in the cowardice and weakness of good men... All the strength of Satan’s reign is due to the easy-going weakness of Catholics. Oh! if I might ask the Divine Redeemer, as the prophet Zachary did in spirit: What are those wounds in the midst of Thy hands? The answer would not be doubtful: With these was I wounded in the house of them that loved Me. I was wounded by My friends, who did nothing to defend Me, and who, on every occasion, made themselves the accomplices of My adversaries. And this reproach can be leveled at the weak and timid Catholics of all countries"
• 
  --Pope St. Pius X, Discourse at the Beatification of St. Joan of Arc, Dec. 13, 1908
   

"The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: 'Here is the wolf!' when it enters the flock or anywhere else."
--St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 29

Second Sunday in Lent - Bishop Bonaventure, OFM

Saturday, February 23, 2013 - Bishop Giles, OFM 
Second Sunday in Lent - Bishop Giles, OFM 

"We must remember that if all the manifestly good men were on one side and all the manifestly bad men on the other, there would be no danger of anyone, least of all the elect, being deceived by lying wonders.  It is the good men, good once, we must hope good still, who are to do the work of Anti-Christ and so sadly to crucify the Lord afresh…. Bear in mind this feature of the last days, that this deceitfulness arises from good men being on the wrong side."
--Fr. Frederick Faber, Sermon for Pentecost Sunday, 1861; qtd. in Fr. Denis Fahey, The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World (text here)

'One of the best proofs that we advance in virtue is to be at peace amid the attacks and the contradictions of creatures. Be firm on this point, and despise all the assaults of hell. More than ever show your fidelity to God by reposing on the cross with equanimity of spirit, and even exteriorly be calm and serene, without murmur or complaint. Drink of the chalice which Jesus Himself offers you; if it be bitter to the palate, it is sweet to the heart.'

St. Paul of the Cross

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Second Sunday in Lent 24 February 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Our Lord gives a glimpse of Heaven to three of His disciples in today’s Gospel. The disciples read or heard of the future kingdom and like so many others longed for this, but their conception of this kingdom was worldly and materialistic. So, when Jesus spoke to them of His upcoming crucifixion and death, they were more than a little disconcerted. These three, (Peter, James, and John) were taken up the mountain and given a glimpse of Heaven. God, and therefore Heaven, has been with them all this time, but was hidden from their eyes because they were still worldly. In order to truly experience this glory forever it is necessary that we die. Not just a physical death that all of God’s creatures must endure, but more importantly we must die to this world and the material attraction that it holds for us. 

The path to this eternal kingdom in Heaven that is so longed for is only to be obtained through sacrifice. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were not perfect and were a substitute for the sacrifice that God desires and requires. These sacrifices of grain and/or animals were accepted by God in place of the lives of sinful men. The only sacrifice that would be complete and perfect was the sacrifice of God made Man upon the Cross of Calvary. Yet, this sacrifice of Christ’s is not complete in us individually until we make a similar sacrifice of ourselves and unite it to His. It is in this idea that Jesus has invited His Apostles and us to drink of the chalice that He drank, and to carry and die upon our crosses as He did upon His. 

This thought of our physical death fills the worldly with fear and dread of that day, but for those who have already died to this world the death of the body holds no fear. For us to become one of the latter it is necessary that we follow Christ is denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and dying to this world. This is frightening, unless or until we catch a glimpse of Heaven, as these three Apostles received. We have their testimony and this should be enough for us, but God in His mercy has given us over two-thousand years of the Church’s constant teaching along with the testimony of all Her saints. The problem with most of us is that as this testimony and revelation is set before us, we fall asleep as the Apostles have done. Christ woke them and permitted them to hear the Father speak; He likewise inspires His Church to stir us from our lethargy and behold Him in His Holy Sacrament. 

We mentioned above that the Apostles have seen Jesus and therefore have seen Heaven. They did not realize this at the time and so all too often when we behold the Holy Eucharist we fail to see God and so fail to see Heaven. After the Apostles lost Christ on Good Friday they hid and in fear died to this world as they mourned the loss of Jesus. In this state Jesus came to them after His Resurrection and once again they saw Him and found some relief. The complete realization only came to them on Pentecost. Then their eyes were opened and they realized that all that time they were in the presence of God and did not realize it. In our case, the Church is constantly reminding us that we must see with the eyes of faith that Jesus is truly present in the Holy Eucharist; and to see with the eyes of our soul, we must first kill the eyes of our bodies (the passions and pleasures of this world). Therefore, this season of Lent is extremely necessary for us to begin or perfect this process. 

As we mortify ourselves in Lenten penances we look forward to the celebration of the Resurrection. We know that Christ died before He rose so we too must die before we can rise. He who loses His life for My sake will save it. Our Lord sacrifices Himself anew in every Mass; He remains after the Sacrifice of the Mass in the tabernacle. Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, is present in our Churches! When we begin to see with the eyes of faith, we perceive that our Churches are truly another Mount Tabor. When we enter into our Churches we are truly entering into Heaven. We are given a glimpse of Heaven while we are here on earth. We should be struck and filled with awe as the Apostles were. We should be eager as St. Peter to remain there forever. When this grace is received it fills the soul with a profound and sacred silence. This grace is so sacred that it cannot be expressed in words. So we must re-enter the world and not speak of the grace and spiritual vision that we have been given. First, because the grace was for us and not for the world, and second, because the vision is not fulfilled or completed yet and will not be until it is permanent (after we complete our physical death to this world), and thirdly because this grace is sacred and is not to be exposed to profanation by those in the world who are unworthy.

The graces of God therefore are most often hidden by their recipients until the appropriate time. Their humility, faith, and profound love of God demand this of them, and they can truly do nothing else. The weak, often are filled with pride and vanity and boast of things that they have received and then lose all merit, or there are the frauds who boast of having received things that they have not. The profound realization of God’s presence in the Holy Eucharist and the taste of Heaven here on earth is given to us if we will follow Christ up the mountain in penances. The fullness of this vision and taste however, is reserved for us after we die completely to this life -- in the love of the cross, because it is the door to the eternal tabernacle of Heaven. Life begins in and with death.

Sermon for Feb. 16 - Bishop Giles, OFMFirst Sunday in Lent - Bishop Giles, OFM

First Sunday in Lent - Fr. Joseph, OFM

First Sunday in Lent-Bishop Bonaventure, OFM 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals First Sunday in Lent 17 February 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Our lives are never without temptations. The devils are always ready and waiting for the opportune moment to make us fall. If we ever perceive that we are not being tempted then we should truly begin to worry. The devils have no need to entice those who are already fallen and are not struggling to rise again. We do not say these things to lead us into despair or hopelessness, but rather to encourage us. Being tempted is a sign that we are doing something right or well; and that is very upsetting to the devils. The greater our love for God grows, the greater the assaults from Hell become.

We have not only the example of Jesus in today’s Gospel, but our Holy Mother the Church presents us with the lives of so many Saints. St. John Marie Vianney, the Curé of Ars, gives us a wonderful insight into the workings of the demons. The greater the assaults of the devils were against this humble priest the more he would rejoice. The demonic attacks meant to the Curé that he would soon recall a great sinner to the path of virtue. He would often tease the devils when their attacks became the most violent saying that he welcomed them knowing that he would soon catch a big fish (sinner).

The Desert Fathers speak of a vision a man had where he saw a single demon perched over the city, but there were swarms of devils all about the monastery. This vision was explained in that it only took one demon to keep all the people in the city on the path to Hell. In fact this one demon, more often than not, had absolutely nothing to do. On the other hand in the monastery where men were constantly seeking to please God and to increase their love for God there were never enough demons to deter them. The harder we strive and the closer we draw to God the greater become the attacks of the demons. The further we wander from God the less the demons tempt or attack. We can in a sense then, gauge our spiritual life by the temptations that we suffer. The greater and the more that we suffer the closer we are to God and the less that we suffer the further we are from Him.

There are three parts to the Mystical Body of Christ: the Church Triumphant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Militant. We belong to the last, the Church Militant. We are engaged in a constant warfare. The battle is for our souls; the love and affections of our hearts. God wants and demands all our love and the devils only need to get us to turn away from God in some little way. It does not matter to the demons if they get us to worship devils, men, ourselves or any other creature. They succeed if they can get us to put anything above God.

Our days here on this earth are numbered, so the demons only have a short window of opportunity to destroy us. Very often as our days on this earth are drawing to a close their attacks become the most vicious because, they hate the thought of another soul entering into the eternal happiness of Heaven. As our bodies grow old and become weaker all too often the demonic attacks increase. If we have spent our lives well, we have grown accustomed to subduing these assaults so that it becomes second nature to us, and there is little that the devils can do other than intensify their attacks. We can then say with St. Paul that we have fought the good fight. Sadly though, there are few that have spent their lives well, and so the assaults in these last moments often are more than they can or are willing to resist.

In this life long battle we must always fight. If we find that we have nothing to fight then we should really begin to question our love of God. Do we really love Him with all our heart, mind and soul? Temptations are one of the daily crosses that Jesus invites us to take up. He would have us fight this battle every day. We may find that we fall very often. Let us not grow weary or despondent, but rather look to Jesus when He fell on the way to Calvary, and get up and start all over again. It is only hopeless for those who are already in Hell. If we are not in Hell then we may still hope and we may still succeed. God is ever ready with His grace, if we will call upon Him and make use of the tools (sacraments, penances, prayers, etc.) that He has placed at our disposal.

This season of Lent let us; train, retrain, or strengthen ourselves for these battles. We must remind ourselves that we are in the greatest of all wars and we must be prepared to fight even to our dying breath. It is not all gloom and doom in this war, because if we fight for God, He is on our side. Who can oppose us or overcome us if we are with God?! Even if all the devils in Hell attack, they are helpless and are as nothing in the face of God. We must also remind ourselves that God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our strength. He always gives us the necessary grace and means to successfully fight off every single attack. We only need to call on Him and make use of the spiritual weapons He has given us.

From the website for the Basilica of Saint Anthony:

In the Treasury Chapel there is: the Saint’s tunic, the two wooden boxes, the cord and two seals, the three crimson red cloths reconstructed as a cope, the two large decorated drapes, the plaque, some small coins and the rings. All of which can be devoutly observed.

Up the left flight of steps there are three niches which contain relics of St. Anthony and other Saints, and above, gifts donated in recognition or as signs of devotion by wealthy pilgrims who have visited the Patron Saint of Padua. We must instead focus on the most prestigious relics of St. Anthony which are in the central niche. The Saint’s tongue (in the center). Its feast is February 15. Do not expect it to be a tongue which is bright red in color. It is still however an inexplicable fact, given that it is a very fragile part of the body that is usually among the first parts to disintegrate after death. More than 770 years have passed since St. Anthony died and this tongue is a perennial miracle, unique in history and full of religious significance, a seal marking the work of re-evangelization of society carried out by the Saint. 

A gilded silver masterpiece, a work by Giuliano da Firenze (1434-36) proudly contains the relic of the jaw (left). More precisely, the lower jaw, contained in a case shaped like a bust, with a halo and crystal glass where the face should be. It was commissioned in 1349 by Cardinal Guy de Boulogne-sur-Mer, who experienced one of the Saint’s miracles: He brought it to Padua the following year, to solemnly organize the placing of the jaw into this reliquary. The cartilage of the larynx. This is still incorrupt. These are the parts of the body used in phonation, that is to say, in speech, and thus attracted attention straightaway, although not considered inexplicable like the tongue during the recent recognition in 1981. It was still decided to place it with the Saint’s tongue. The reliquary is the work of Carlo Balljana from Treviso. 

[For full website]

Dear Friends,

I have encouraged many of you in the reading of the Sacred Scriptures especially during the upcoming season of Lent. Realizing the pressing demands of the world upon your time and in the desire to assist in any way I can, I have decided to make available some audio recordings of the Gospels. These recordings were originally made for my own private use, so there is nothing professional about them. I have been asked to make them available and so I am attempting to do that for this season of Lent so that you may be able to gain some spiritual benefit from them. I hope that these recordings will encourage us to a greater love for the Word of God and a burning desire to pick up the Sacred Texts ourselves as well as the commentaries that the Fathers of the Church have provided us, and understand them in a truly Catholic sense and not through any private interpretation, as the heretics are wont to do.

I welcome any questions, comments or suggestions that you may have.

May God bless you.
+Bishop Giles OFM

Here follows the links to the audio recordings of the Gospel of St. Matthew.
St. Matthew Chapter 1
St. Matthew Chapter 2
St. Matthew Chapter 3
St. Matthew Chapter 4
St. Matthew Chapter 5
St. Matthew Chapter 6
St. Matthew Chapter 7
St. Matthew Chapter 8
St. Matthew Chapter 9 
St. Matthew Chapter 10
St. Matthew Chapter 11
St. Matthew Chapter 12
St. Matthew Chapter 13 St. Matthew Chapter 14 St. Matthew Chapter 15
St. Matthew Chapter 16
St. Matthew Chapter 17
St. Matthew Chapter 18
St. Matthew Chapter 19
St. Matthew Chapter 20
St. Matthew Chapter 21
St. Matthew Chapter 22
St. Matthew Chapter 23
St. Matthew Chapter 24
St. Matthew Chapter 25
St. Matthew Chapter 26
St. Matthew Chapter 27
St. Matthew Chapter 28

Prayer of St. Therese of the Child Jesus to the Holy Face

O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become "the most abject of
men, a man of sorrows", I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once
did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has
become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under
those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am
consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men.
The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as
so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to
purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value.
O Jesus, whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix
deep within me Thy divine image and to set me on fire with Thy Love,
that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy
glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.

He that is addicted to fasting thinks himself very devout if he fasts, though his heart be at the same time filled with rancor, and scrupling to moisten his tongue with wine, or even with water, through sobriety, he makes no difficulty to drink deep of his neighbor's blood, by detraction and calumny. Another considers himself devout because he recites daily a multiplicity of prayers, though immediately afterwards he utters the most disagreeable, arrogant, and injurious words amongst his domestics and neighbors. Another cheerfully draws an alms out of his purse to relieve the poor, but cannot draw meekness out of his heart to forgive his enemies. Another readily forgives enemies, but never satisfies his creditors but by constraint. These, by some, are esteemed devout, while, in reality, they are by no means so.
St. Francis de Sales - "Introduction to A Devout Life"

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Quinquagesima Sunday 10 February 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Our Lord is preparing His disciples for His crucifixion and death in today’s Gospel, and so Our Holy Mother the Church is preparing us for the season of Lent. The Apostles did not comprehend what Our Lord was saying. It was inconceivable to them that Jesus should suffer and die. They have witnessed the many great and wondrous things that He has done. How could He die who is all powerful and can do all things? Sadly, even today, crosses, pain, and suffering remain a mystery to us even as they were to the Apostles. It was not until after Christ’s glorious Resurrection that they were able to understand. Perhaps the same is true with us – our understanding will only be complete when our faith is confirmed through some wondrous manifestation of Christ. Hopefully this will come to pass before it is too late for us to save our souls.

The blind man sitting by the wayside without seeing the wonders that Jesus had performed believed. It was his faith that made him whole. We too, are often like this poor blind man – we are blind and unable to see the true light of God. This blind man was forced by circumstance to be a beggar in order to live. Consequently he must beg for money, food, etc. – all worldly things. In our prayers to God we often resemble beggars – begging Him for material things. It is not the material things that are the problem; it is our disordered love of material things. Our love of these things blinds us to the True Light. We beg in our prayers but we beg for the wrong things. We do not know what it is that we should pray for. Is it any wonder that so often our prayers are not answered or are answered differently than we expected? Our faith is weak and so, our faith cannot make us whole. We must seek first the Kingdom of God.

Our prayers are often dark and cloudy. We pray but our minds and hearts are distracted; the sins that we have committed come back to haunt and disturb our prayers when we are desirous of speaking to God. The sight of Jesus is hidden from us by all these obstacles. Our worldly loves are all clamoring to silence us just as the crowd tried to silence the blind man. They keep getting in our way so our prayers often are silenced. The lesson that we are to learn from the blind man is that we must persevere unto the end. When the sins and love of material things attempt to stop our approaching Jesus we must redouble our efforts and cry out all the louder. We must cry out not to the world but to God. We must dominate the clamor of the crowd with ever greater determination, especially those that are trying to silence us.

If we cry out loud enough and perseveringly enough we will cause Jesus to stop and allow us to come near to Him. Then will come the all-important question: what will you have Me do for you? This is the moment that we must not falter. The beggar in us all is tempted to again ask for: money, power, prestige, etc. (worldly or material things). What we need to seek is not these things. God knows our material needs and wants. He supplies these material things easily. Of what use are material things if we do not have eyes or the light to see them? If we cannot see, we cannot truly appreciate their beauty and goodness. Without the Light of God we cannot advance in the spiritual life. Our faith must grow to the point that we consider all the material things as nothing if we lack supernatural life. We must value the Light more than the things that the light illuminates. We must love God the Creator more than any one or even all of His creatures combined. Our prayer then must be: “Lord that I may see.” We must put off the desire for temporal things so that we may see God. Once we have the light of God then we can truly see all the temporal things He has created and we can appreciate them appropriately. We will be drawn as St. Paul, to use the things of this world as if we used them not; to love and appreciate all these beautiful creatures: in God, for God, and through God. At this point the temporal world and all the material goods of this life will cease to be shadows hiding and darkening our clear vision of God. These material things will actually become lenses that will help give us clearer vision and clearer understanding of God. We will at that point truly see the world and all of God’s creation in a new light.

This season of Lent is where we begin this prayer as the blind man. In penance, we put aside these worldly things and focus our attention upon Jesus. Every day of this season we need to cry out louder and louder – silencing the cries of the world and our passions – begging God to give us that which we need most – Light for our souls so that we might see and come to eternal Life. For the rest of our days here on earth, may we never cease to cry out to God for this grace of spiritual Light. Let us never be deterred by others or by our own past sins, but seek Jesus with ever increasing fervor. As our fervor and love of God increases, the love of this world and sin will diminish.

Here is an update on the baby Lucy situation.  For those of you that are unaware, our granddaughter Lucy Anne  was rushed to the hospital on Sunday night because she stopped breathing and turned blue.  She had surgery yesterday and spent today on a breathing tube but I'm happy to report that they have taken the tube out and she is breathing on her own and actually drank 2 oz of milk without choking.

Lucy would not be alive now if her father wasn't holding her when she turned blue.  She would have been another sudden infant death syndrome statistic.  We all firmly believe that the St. Blaise blessing that she received on Sunday was the reason that she was in her father's arms at the moment that she turned blue.  We all firmly believe that the prayers that were poured out to heaven by her family in the faith were the reason that she recovered so quickly.  Bishop Bonaventure said Holy Mass for her and we cannot thank him or all of you enough  for your prayers!

Now we must all thank God that He saved her life.  We also firmly believe that God has great things in store for this littlest angel.

                                                                   
Deo Gratias!!!!

     

First Friday Feb 1 - Bishop Giles, OFM
First Saturday- Feb 2 - Bishop Giles, OFM
Sexagesima Sunday - Bishop Giles, OFM

Sexagesima Sunday-Bishop Bonaventure, OFM 

CHAPTER IX
HOW ST FRANCIS WOULD TEACH BROTHER LEO WHAT TO ANSWER, AND HOW THE LATTER COULD NEVER SAY AUGHT BUT THE CONTRARY TO WHAT ST FRANCIS WISHED
Once, as the beginning of the Order, St Francis was with Brother Leo in a convent where they had no books wherewith to say divine office. So, when the hour of Matins arrived, St Francis said to Brother Leo: "My beloved brother, we have no Breviary wherewith to say Matins, but in order to employ the time in praising God, I will speak, and thou shalt answer me as I shall teach thee; and beware thou change not the words I shall bid thee say. Thus will I begin: `O Brother Francis, thou hast done so much evil, and hast committed so many sins in the world, that thou art only worthy of hell'; and thou, Brother Leo, shalt answer: `It is very true thou art worthy of the nethermost hell.'" And Brother Leo said, with the simplicity of a dove, "Right willingly, Father; begin, then, in the name of God." St Francis therefore began thus: O Brother Francis, thou hast done so much evil, and hast committed so many sins in the world, that thou art worthy of hell." And Brother Leo made answer: "God will work so much good through thee, that thou wilt certainly go to heaven". Do not speak thus, "Brother Leo," said St Francis; "but when I say, `Brother Francis, thou hast committed so many iniquities against God, that thou art worthy to be cursed by him,' thou shalt make answer: `Yes, indeed, thou art worthy to be numbered among the cursed.'" And Brother Leo answered: "Most willingly, O my Father." Then St Francis, with many tears and sighs, striking his breast, cried with a loud voice: "O Lord of heaven and earth, I have committed against thee so many sins and so great iniquities, that I deserve to be cursed by thee." And Brother Leo answered: "O Brother Francis, among all the blessed the Lord will cause thee to be singularly blessed." And St Francis, much surprised that Brother Leo answered quite the contrary to what he had ordered him, reproved him for it, saying: "Why answereth thou not as I taught thee? I command thee, under holy obedience, so to do. When I say, `O wicked Brother Francis, dost thou think God will have mercy on thee, when thou hast so sinned against the Father of mercies that thou art not worthy of finding mercy,' then thou, Brother Leo, my little lamb, shalt answer: `Thou art not worthy of finding mercy.'" But when St Francis began to repeat, "O wicked Brother Francis," and so on, Brother Leo answered: "God the Father, whose mercy in infinitely greater than thy sin, will show great mercy upon thee, and will grant thee likewise many graces." At this answer St Francis, being meekly angry, and patiently impatient, said to Brother Leo: "How canst thou presume to act against obedience? Why hast thou so often answered the contrary to what I ordered thee?" With great humility and respect Brother Leo answered: "God knows, my Father, that I had resolved in my heart each time to answer as thou didst command me, but the Lord made me to speak as it pleased him, and not as it pleased me." Then St Francis, being greatly astonished, said to Brother Leo: "I entreat thee, beloved, this time to answer as I command thee." And Brother Leo said: "Speak, in the name of God; for this time most certainly I will answer thee as thou desirest." And St Francis, weeping, said: "O wicked Brother Francis, dost thou think that God will have mercy on thee?" And Brother Leo answered: "Not only will he have mercy on thee, but thou shalt receive from him especial graces: he will exalt thee and glorify thee to all eternity, for he that humbleth himself shall be exalted; and I cannot speak otherwise, because it is God that speaketh by my lips." After this in humble contest, they watched till morning in many tears and much spiritual consolation.

nd after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord: 23 As it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord: 24 And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons:

25 And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was in him. 26 And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.

27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 he also took him into his arms and blessed God and said: 29 Now dismiss your servant, O Lord, according to your word in peace: 30 Because my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared before the face of all peoples: 32 A light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

33 And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be contradicted. 35 And your own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Sexagesima Sunday 3 February 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Jesus has spoken in parables and the meaning of much of what He spoke is hidden from us because we are carnal and not spiritual. Our sins and fallen nature are the obstacle to our understanding and faith. Today however, Jesus has seen fit to explain the details of this parable. Since we are unable to rise up to Him, He has decided to come down to us. 

Jesus sets before us an orderly arrangement of the souls that are lost because they do not receive Him or His graces well. These graces abound for those that do receive Him well. There are three levels of those that were lost and three levels of blessedness. The birds of the air represent the devils. The devils attack the Word of God everywhere and in all types of soils (souls) but they carry away the Word of God most easily in souls that are hard and well traveled on. These souls allow all the joys and pleasures of the world to pass through them and so the Word of God can never even begin to germinate. The next type of soul the devils seldom bother because even though they do receive the Word of God and It germinates, they soon allow it to die off with the first temptation. Where the thorns are the Word of God can germinate and grow, but it is never allowed to completely develop. The riches of this world choke God’s Word. The world is a gift from God to draw us nearer to Him, but in our fallen nature we have put it before Him. And in this manner the riches of the world become thorns to wound our souls. They choke and rob God’s Word of light, moisture, and nourishment so that it never develops. It leaves us with a bit of Faith and Truth so we have the illusion of pleasing God but not the reality. We cannot have both equally growing in our hearts and souls. We cannot serve God and mammon.

If the Word of God is to mature we must labor for it in the preparation of our souls. The grape must be squeezed if the sweet wine is to come out; the olive must be pressed if the fat oil is to be obtained; the grain must be beaten if it is to be cleansed. So must we be squeezed, pressed, and beaten so that we may be made worthy to receive and properly develop the Word of God in us.

There are three categories that were lost so Jesus presents us with three that were saved. There are seeds that produced one hundred fold, sixty fold, and thirty fold. The degree of abundance is dependent first upon God who gives the increase where and when He wills, but secondarily it depends upon us, how well or thorough do we squeeze, press, and beat the worldly cares and corruption from us.

We must not expect that God does everything and leaves us nothing to do on our part. The seed is the same good seed that came down to all. It is the disposition of each soul that makes the difference. God has given the grace we must correspond and cooperate with Him, and the only way to do this is to make our souls receptive and worthy fertile soil for Him.

It is a difficult and painful thing to make ourselves clean, soft, and fertile soil, but it is a necessary thing. It is not in loving this world and the things of this world that is the problem, rather it is our disordered or inordinate love of these things. We should and must love God and all that God loves. All that God has made is good and should be loved. The problem lies when we love God’s creation more than Him. Our fallen nature has inverted love, instead of God being at the top we have placed Him at the bottom or somewhere in between. The pain comes from righting this love; tearing out or tearing down all the loves that we have placed above God and constantly striving to increase our love of Him.

The greater our love the more painful it becomes. But, let us not fear, God will help us if we truly desire it. The invitation to carry the cross and take up the cultivation of our souls enduring this pain and hardship is coupled not only with a future harvest of one hundred, sixty, or thirty fold, but also with the promise that even in this life the cross will be made light and sweet.

The squeezing, pressing, and beating though painful fill us with the joy of the wine, oil, and grain that we are producing. Once we begin breaking up, softening, and fertilizing the soil of our hearts we find it is likewise a labor that is light and sweet. May we find this joy in our labors for our souls and for God even in this life, but especially may we rejoice in a fruitful harvest of God’s goodness in eternity.

The philosopher Aristides, author of these words (written in A.D. 125), describes the Christianity that then was.

They walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another. They despise not the widow, and grieve not the orphan. He that hast distributeth liberally to him that hath not. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him as if he were their own brother: for they call themselves brethren, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit of God; but when one of their poor passes away from the world, and any of them see him, he provides for his burial according to his ability; and if they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs. . . .

“And if there is among them a man that is needy and poor, and they have not an abundance of necessaries, they fast two or three days that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.”

Nothing else needs to be said. This is an examination of conscience for us!