Sunday Sermon

Saint Paul exhorts us: "Receive not the grace of God in vain!" All that we do "in vain" is nothing more than vanity.

We usually do not appreciate all of the things that God has done for us until they are either taken away from us or until we suffer in some other way. Did you thank God this morning for your electricity? Your hot water for a shower? Your breakfast? The car that safely and warmly transported you to church this morning? Probably not. But how would you feel if you just got your power back three weeks after a hurricane. Would you thank God for electricity then?

One of our great weaknesses as Christians is not appreciating the blessings that we have been given by God. This is the chief reason for our restlessness and dissatisfaction. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, but we do not marvel at that fact. Our Lord wanted to encourage a sense of conviction that His Disciples had lived at a time of extraordinary events in the history of the world.

We are called to be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Every lesson from the Lord is not only a transmission of information, but it is also a transmission of vocation. We are truly called by every lesson to live more deeply the Christian life! In the Gospel, we hear of a Doctor of the Law trying to tempt the Lord by asking Him which is the greatest commandment. Our Lord gives the answer, and even more; for with the knowledge of the essence of the Law and the Prophets comes a great responsibility on the part of the receiver.

We have seen how, when our Lord was approaching the city of Naim, “a dead man was carried out;” in to-day’s Gospel we read that “there was a certain man before him that had the dropsy;” this man was dangerously ill, and would certainly have died had not our Lord cured him. Here, again, we have a warning that we must die, a sermon and an exhortation to think often of death. In my last sermon I showed you how the frequent meditation of death is a powerful means to induce us to do good and to avoid evil. To-day I have another opportunity of treating of the same matter, and of showing in what manner we may derive advantage from the frequent meditation of death.

We are all called to be unsung Heroes who live out the Catholic life.

Having closed ears and blind eyes can’t please God. But that's the sinful condition we’re born into at birth. Thanks be to God that through Jesus and his cross He comes to heal you so you can now hear and speak to Him. Opening your ears, He’s awakened you and called you to Him under the cross where all your sins are forgiven.

Today our Lord instructs us with a parable of the Kingdom. We hear of a king who hosts a great nuptual feast for his son, sending servants far and wide to invite many to come and share the joy of the day. But those who were invited were not only uninterested in coming to the feast, they even treated the king's servants violently for bringing the invitation! But the king invites even more people, of any condition, whosoever his servants might find, so that they might share in the nuptual feast. The king even provides the guests with new garments for the celebration. Hear as our Lord relates the great truth of responding to the invitation of the Eternal Father, and what is required of those who are called.

I have said and proved that it is indispensably necessary to make restitution in order to avoid eternal damnation, so that inability alone can excuse one from making it. But there is still one point, and that is the manner and circumstances of restitution.

We put God first because that's the purpose of our lives, the worth of our lives and the only way to fulfillment in our lives.

No one can serve two masters, as Christ Himself assures us. And yet what a number of those who believe in Christ, although they dare not, of course, contradict the Word of Christ in explicit terms, yet do so by their lives! They live as if they would like to serve both God and the world; they do not want to be at variance with God or the world.

In this sermon podcast we learn that we should thank God for everything that comes into our life, the good and the bad. For God brings good out of evil and sends us tribulation for our own good.

The message in this Gospel reading is clear, The tax collector standing at the back of the Temple, who was humiliated in the eyes of the Pharisee was afraid even to lift his eyes towards Heaven; the only thing he knew to do was to humbly beg God’s forgiveness for his sins, which indeed were many. Jesus assures us that “this man went down to his house justified and righteous, rather than the other… for he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Saint Paul instructs the Corinthians - and all of us - on how we are to bear ourselves in times of plenty and in times of trial: Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, do manfully, and be strengthened. Come and see how all of these build upon each other and work with each other under the greatest virtue of all: Charity!

“What must I do to possess eternal life?” This question should touch the hearts of all men, because all are created for eternal life. A short answer embracing the whole divine law was given to the question: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.” This again holds good for all men. All must love their God with their whole heart and their neighbor as themselves; for such is the will of God. And all can love God and their neighbor, for no one is without the graces and helps which the divine generosity has prepared for all in abundance. Yet, there are people who indulge in curious thoughts and speculations regarding this truth, and doubt whether the goodness of God reaches in this sense to all men; thus they represent the divine goodness and liberality as not so great or lovable as is becoming. Against these I shall in this sermon defend the honor and glory of the general love and mercy of God.

There are not a few Christians whose souls would profit much if their bodily tongues were dumb and their bodily ears deaf, so many sins do they commit by their senses of speech and hearing. Would it not be better for certain talkative people to be altogether dumb than to injure or destroy their neighbor’s honor and good name by their wicked tongues? Would it not be better for those curious ears to be completely deaf than to listen with pleasure to backbiting, detraction and scandal? Certainly it would be much better, if it were God’s holy will, for some men to lose both tongue and ears than to lose their souls. I have -already said enough of those who sin in this exceedingly dangerous matter by talking against their neighbors (God grant that what I have said may help them to amendment in this respect!) They who listen to such uncharitable talk must now have their instruction, for they must know....

We as humans seem to need and almost thrive on the approval and affirmation of others. We just love for people to acknowledge our greatness. This also leads to another problem in the same area. People will in most cases ignore or snub someone that they have never heard of, or have heard bad reports on. We live in a society that demands me first and my feelings above anyone else. This passage in the 2nd letter to the church at Corinth shows the folly of this notion. Paul is saying we don’t need this stuff if we are God’s.

We tend to look at people's financial statement, and value them by what it says. The real measure is what God is using that person for.

Our Lord encounters a rich young man who seeks eternal life. The young man has kept the commandments, but asks the Lord what more he can do. Our Lord invites him to sell all that he has and to give to the poor and to come follow Him! The young man goes away sad, for he is greatly attached to his possessions. Is it possible for the rich - or any of us - to find salvation? The Lord has the answer.

We hear of a king settling accounts with his servants. One servant is forgiven a debt of a very great amount of money after he begs forgiveness from the king. This servant turns around and then shows no mercy whatsoever to a fellow-servant who owed him a small amount of money. Hear how the king reacts upon hearing of this, and learn our Lord's lesson for all of us in living a life of forgiveness.