Sunday Sermon - 2.18.24
LATIN MASS: FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 6:1 And we helping do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 For He saith: In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 Giving no offence to any man, that our ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labours, in watchings, in fastings, 6 In chastity, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Ghost, in charity unfeigned, 7 In the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armour of justice on the right hand and on the left; 8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known; 9 As dying, and behold we live; as chastised, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things.
Sorry for the belated post. Receiving the grace of God in vain. Few things are as horrific as the idea of receiving the grace of God in vain. Our Creator practically begging us to receive and cooperate with His grace for our salvation. He always stands ready to flood our souls with His grace, if we would just allow Him.
When He sends us trials and tribulations, those are opportunities for us to expand our souls so that they can hold even more of God’s grace. He does everything for our benefit even when we cannot see it. We can have nothing in this world, yet if we have Him, we have everything.
GOSPEL: Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry. 3 And the tempter coming said to Him: If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, 6 And said to Him: If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: That He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash Thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again the devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and shewed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, 9 And said to Him: All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me. 10 Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold angels came and ministered to Him.
Something to notice in this exchange. The devil is not omniscient. He certainly has a great intellect and considerable amount of knowledge. Yet through these temptations, he does not know exactly who the Son of Man is. He is not the equal and opposing being to God. There is none. He is the opponent of St. Michael. He is the opponent of Our Lady. He is the opponent of you and I. He is not the opponent to God because none can oppose Him. God actively wills our entire existence and the existence of the demons. If He ever chose to stop willing their existence, they would vanish out of existence immediately.
In these temptations, Our Lord allowed Himself to experience hunger, pain and suffering. He allowed Himself to be tempted and badly treated. He allowed Himself to be abused, beaten, and murdered. He allows us to mistreat Him if we so choose. In doing this, we expose our own hearts. He still allows this even to this day. He comes to us in the Eucharist, in a form that makes Him completely vulnerable to any mistreatment we could choose to commit against Him. He leaves the choice to us, whether we will receive Him as King or abuse Him like those during His Passion.
NOVUS ORDO: FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis 9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “As for me, I am establishing My Covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish My Covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the Covenant that I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between Me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember My Covenant that is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting Covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the Covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Salvation lies inside the Ark. God saved those who obeyed Him and went inside the Ark that Noah had built. He saved them through the waters. God also saved the Israelites through what was stored inside the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark held Aaron the High Priest’s staff, manna from the desert and the Ten Commandments. God saved the Israelites through the Passover and their 40 years in the desert. God saved mankind through the Ark of the New Covenant, which is Our Lady. Salvation lay inside her womb with Our Lord, who is our High Priest, the Manna from Heaven and the Word of God. Finally God saves us through the Ark of the Catholic Church, which houses inside of her the sacraments that Christ gave us through which He transmits His saving grace to mankind.
Remain inside the Ark and be faithful and obedient to God so He will save you.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, 19 in which also He went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 Who has gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to Him.
Baptism saves us by forgiving Original Sin and all our personal sin. Baptism is how we enter into the New Covenant that Christ established at the Last Supper. Baptism is how we become adopted sons and daughters of the Father. Baptism is how we become part of the family of the Trinity when we take upon our souls the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Never forget your baptism and keep your baptismal promises. Always keep your soul free from mortal sin so that the grace of your baptism still flows into your soul. If you have mortal sin right now, go to Confession so that you can start receiving those graces once more. This is also true of the graces that flow from the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Matrimony. If you have mortal sin, the graces from those sacraments stop flowing into your soul. Go to Confession and let the graces from all of your sacraments begin to flow into your soul again.
GOSPEL: Mark 1:12 And the Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on Him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
The Gospel of Mark is the shortest Gospel and it always gets right to the point. Our Lord was in the desert to prepare His Body for the public ministry He was about to begin. We should do the same and prepare ourselves for Holy Week and Good Friday. The Kingdom of God is near and we need to repent to be ready. Believe Christ when He says these things.
Late? OK. But what a great review of the Scripture and preaching of the First Sunday of Lent. I really benefited from a review and reminds me to put that into Mondays especially durning Lent.
🙏📿 thank you.