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THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost 13 November 2011

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

We easily see the image and inscription on the coin but not so readily the image and inscription that is placed upon our bodies and souls. Our catechism informs us that we are all made to the image and likeness of God. Based upon this alone we must see the necessity of returning ourselves to God. Added to this are the graces that we received in Baptism and the other sacraments. Our souls have been washed and purified and the indelible image of God has been emblazoned upon them.

We are temples of the Holy Ghost and marked with the image of God. It cannot become any clearer that it is we ourselves that belong to God and we must return ourselves to Him.

The tithing of money, flocks, grain, herbs, etc. is only a substitution for the gift of ourselves that God demands from us. God commanded an offering of the first fruits of our labors from the beginning. The tithe or ten percent takes the place of ourselves; that is why the offering must be of the first fruits, it must be the best that we have to offer.

When the Israelites left their bondage in Egypt, we see among the many plagues, one that struck the first born male that opened the womb. The Israelites learned that the first fruits of their labors and their offspring belong to God. Rather than demanding the first male from every family, God accepted a dedicated family to take the place of all the others; the tribe of Levi. God accepted this family of priests as an offering for everyone else.

Today we do not have a hereditary priesthood, but rather a more perfect one where God calls men to willingly offer themselves for His honor and glory and for the benefit of their fellow men. Added to this is the sacrifice of all the religious, both men and women. These chosen souls offer themselves on behalf of all men. They pray the psalms every day, offering the prayers that the world owes to God. These are the ones that give themselves completely over to the original plan of God – offering themselves and all that they have to Him. They bear within and without their bodies and souls the image of God; and their entire life is spent in rendering themselves to God.

The priests and religious also have become the offering for the rest of the world. They represent the tithe of the rest of men – the first and best fruits that we have to offer. It is a sad state of affairs that we find ourselves in today. There are very few true priests and religious and so likewise the offering to God is much less than the original plan of offering God the first fruits or the tithe of ten percent.

We owe this debt to God and unless this debt is paid we will find that we are unacceptable to Him. Our offerings (if we even make an offering) are not the best that we have. We have taken the best for ourselves and the world and will give whatever is left over to God. How often do we hear that religious have wasted their talents in the convent or cloister when they could have done so much in the world? The real question we should be wondering about is, how so many can waste their talents in the world when they could have done so much for God and man in the convent or cloister.

Too many religious and priests have forgotten that their first duty is to God and their offering is first to Him. They rather think of serving their fellow men and have become great “humanitarians” rather than holy and acceptable offerings to God on behalf of their fellow men.

Let us pray for true vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. Let us pray that those who have been called will make themselves holy, pleasing, and acceptable to God. Let us offer these priests and religious both our material and spiritual support because they have freely chosen to offer themselves on our behalf to God.

Let us encourage the best of our young to give themselves to God, rather than to the world. Only in this way will our offerings be acceptable.

We still must completely belong to God but the priests and religious offer us an opportunity to pay a tithe of what we have. This tithe on our behalf is acceptable to God as we pray for and support them and they cooperate and fulfill their obligations.

23. Examine those virtues which you imagine that you possess. Have you prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, modesty, humility, chastity, humbleness of spirit, charity, obedience, and many other virtues that may be necessary or suitable to your condition? If you have a few of these, in what degree do you possess them?

But I will say more: and that is, examine yourself first, and see whether you really have this virtue that you think you possess. What I mean to say is: is it a real virtue, or perhaps only a disposition of your natural temperament, be it melancholy, sanguine or phlegmatic? And even should this virtue be real, is it a Christian virtue or purely a human one? Every act of virtue which does not proceed from a supernatural motive, in order to bring us to everlasting bliss, is of no value. And in the practice of virtue, do you join to your external actions the inward and spiritual acts of the heart? O true Christian virtues, I fear that in me you are nothing but beautiful outward appearances! I deserve the reproach of God's word: "Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked." [Apoc. iii, 17] And in the same manner the counsel of St. Augustine is good for me, that it is better to think of those virtues in which we are lacking rather than of those which we possess. "I will humble myself more for those virtues which I lack than pride myself on those I possess." [In Ps. xxxviii]

II Maccabees 12:43-46: "And making a gathering, he (Judas) sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them.
It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins."

Dear Friends in Christ,

Here are the audio sermon links for the 21st Sunday After Pentecost. 

Pax Vobis +

21st Sunday After Pentecost 11-6-11 
Waterloo 2PM Mass 11-6-11

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AUDIO SERMON FOR 21ST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST GIVEN BY BISHOP GILES,OFM

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost 6 November 2011

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

The parable that Jesus gives us today reminds us of Hell. The servant that was without compassion for his fellow servant (after he had received so much from his master) was delivered to the torturers until he paid all the debt. As long as the man is in prison and being tortured he has no means of making any money so he therefore will never be released because the debt will never be paid. Those who are condemned to Hell likewise are given over to torturers and they too will never be released from their prison or torture because they can merit nothing from all their suffering in Hell.

It is a frightening thing to be cast into prison here on earth, but this is nothing compared to the eternal prison in Hell. The temporal prisons must end sometime – either with our release or with our death. In Hell there is no release or death to escape its horrors.

Every sinner is an indebted servant. We are all servants if we consider our catechism that teaches that we were made to: “know love and SERVE God in this world.” If we succeed in doing this then we will be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven. The sinner though is an unworthy servant. The sinner takes the things of God and abuses them in such a way that amounts to stealing from God. For example pride, which is at the root of all sins, takes from God the honor and glory that belongs only to Him and attributes it to ourselves. We as sinners have become thieves – stealing that which only belongs to God. Our position as servants does not excuse our actions or condone them in any way – on the contrary because we are servants and have been entrusted with so much we become all the more guilty. To whom much has been given much will be required.

If we could begin to tally our sins and offenses against God we would soon discover that we have become far more indebted than the unfaithful servant in today’s parable. All hope is not lost though. If we will only humbly confess our crimes to God’s minister; resolved with the help of God’s grace to do better; He is always ready to forgive us everything. It is a most wonderful and beautiful experience to receive this forgiveness and consolation. Words fall short in trying to express this consolation. Only those who have experienced it can understand it.

We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. As we have been indebted to God, likewise our neighbor often becomes indebted to us. As God has been merciful to us and is ready and eager always to pardon us, so we must do likewise towards our fellow man. We must give as we have been given to. Whatever our neighbor might owe to us, it is always miniscule compared to what God has forgiven us. So when our neighbor asks our forgiveness we must be eager to give it just as God is eager to forgive us.

It is truly in giving that we receive. When we are in a position to give to someone else we become like God. We become more closely conformable to Him. We must be very cautious though because with every step closer to God and perfection there is an equal danger in becoming unjust and prideful and/or vain in stealing that which belongs to God. We are called to draw nearer to God and to become like Him, but at the same time we must never forget our position and remember that we are not gods.

While always remaining humble and having a loving heart for God and true charity for our fellow man we draw closer to God and receive greater graces. God has an infinite treasure of gifts and He is eager to give them to us as long as we persevere as good and faithful servants. The more that we are able to give and do for our fellow man, so much the more God will reward us with greater gifts. Far from depleting what we have when we forgive our debtors, we actually increase our treasures as God rewards us many times over for whatever we do for our neighbor for the Love of Him.

Young teen forced into Wisconsin abortion clinic: witnesses

by Kathleen Gilbert

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, November 3, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life sidewalk counselors outside a Milwaukee abortion clinic Thursday morning say that a preteen girl asking pro-lifers for help was forced into the clinic by escorts and a guardian, and that police have responded saying that they could do nothing.
Tobey Neuberger, a sidewalk counselor from Cedarburg, said the incident occurred just before 10 a.m. outside Affiliated Medical Services, where she and two other female pro-life counselors gave a “very young” African-American girl literature as she entered the clinic, and told her that she could get more information at a pro-life center across the street. Witnesses said the girl looked anywhere between 11 and 14 years old.

The exterior of Affiliated Medical Services

Neuberger says she and her companions were “just incredulous” as they watched the girl come back out and ask for help from the counselors, only to be physically blocked by the escort staff.

“Once she said she wanted to go across the street, she [the escort] held up her arm and blocked her, then she put her hand on the kid’s shoulder to stop her,” said Dan Miller, another pro-life sidewalk counselor and witness present at the scene. “The whole group of vigilers were pleading for her to let her go across the street to get free help, and they wouldn’t let her.”
“We could hear her say, ‘please take your hands off me,’” Neuberger, 42, told LifeSiteNews.com. “You could see it in her eyes.” The counselor said that the guardian, who appeared to be her mother, eventually came out of the clinic appearing “very irritated” and “literally pulled her back into the clinic.”
Neuberger said that while they have often seen girls appearing to be forced into the clinic, this situation was different, as the girl had actually asked the counselors to take her across the street. “We’ve seen it before, with the girls going in with red eyes ... you get the eyes glazed over, you can tell. She vocally asked for help,” she said. “It was heartbreaking.”
During the conflict, the group of sidewalk counselors nearest the clinic asked for help from Miller, who was across the street, and who then called the police. But, he says, the operator responded by saying there was nothing to be done, and no officers were dispatched.
“I told her what the situation was, they said, well, there’s nothing we can do, she’s with her parents, so there’s nothing going on here,” Miller told LifeSiteNews.com.
Witnesses said the girl re-emerged after about 90 minutes total in the clinic, but it didn’t appear she had undergone an abortion and she seemed in “good spirits.” Yet they feared she might return after fulfilling Wisconsin’s 24-hour waiting period: Miller said pro-life vigilers, who have been at the clinic around the clock as part of the Fall 40 Days for Life campaign, had apparently not seen the girl enter before.
Miller also noted that the girl’s guardian responded angrily to the pro-life group as the pair left, calling out, “free help my a**.”
A public relations officer at the Milwaukee Police Department was not available to speak with LifeSiteNews.com Thursday afternoon.
Virginia Zignego of Pro-Life Wisconsin noted that pro-lifers’ relationship with police in the area has been strained, and recalled one recent incident in which workers at Affiliated Women’s Heath Center called police to arrest pro-life witness James Marcou for videotaping outside the clinic. The charges were dropped last March.
Miller said that the clinic staff often used police to intimidate pro-lifers, often effectively.
“They [the police] would be used as a show of force by the abortion mill to scatter the pro-lifers, usually they call them when we have large numbers down here,” he said. “We’ve never been given a ticket, but the numbers would diminish afterwards.”