Sunday Sermon - 2.9.25
LATIN MASS: FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
EPISTLE: Colossians 3:12 Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience: 13 Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. 14 But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection: 15 And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one Body: and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. 17 All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.
People will know that you belong to God by how you love others. True love, the agape love of God, only comes from sacrifice. That sacrifice that we must do is giving up our own will and accepting the will of the Father. What is ironic in all this is that by doing the Father’s will, we truly find ourselves and find peace. When we stick with our own will, we will only find misery and darkness.
GOSPEL: Matthew 13:24 Another parable He proposed to them, saying: The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. 25 But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. 26 And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. 27 And the servants of the goodman of the house coming said to him: Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it cockle? 28 And he said to them: An enemy hath done this. And the servants said to him: Wilt thou that we go and gather it up? 29 And he said: No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. 30 Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.
Do not lose heart or lose your hope. Even when you see demons and monsters in the Catholic Church. No matter how rancid the evil might be of some in the Church, do not lose your faith. Our Lord knows everything, and He knows all about them. He permits their evil so that even greater good might come about. Read again the parable. He bides His time with these evildoers in the Church because there is good seed that He wants to keep. Trust in Him and keep your faith in Him.
NOVUS ORDO: FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of His robe filled the Temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above Him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
The sun will burn out your eyes from 93 million miles away. What do you think would happen to you if you were to enter into the Heavenly court of God will mortal sin on your soul? The holy prophet Isaiah had unclean lips (perhaps from a venial sin?) and needed a hot coal to burn his lips and mouth to cleanse them. I guarantee you that it was not painless for him. The text doesn’t mention because it doesn’t need to tell us that a hot coal hurts when it touches your lips. Indulgences are sorely ignored in our current age, but we need to find them again and start performing them. We need to do these acts of prayer, penance and charity to atone for the temporal effects of our sins. Trust me, performing indulgences will be far more pleasant compared to the fires of Purgatory.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Corinthians 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the Apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the Apostles, unfit to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
One thing to note in this passage and all the books of the New Testament. These are written very specifically to differentiate themselves from the tales of the pagans about their gods. Note how Paul lists off very specifically the people involved. He points to them and tells the listener that they can go to these people and ask them about Our Lord. They can test these stories that he tells. This happened in a specific place, at a specific time and involved real people. It is not mythology. It is real. The Son came down from Heaven and became man. He really and truly did give up His life for our salvation at a specific place and time. It was real and it happened. Our God is real and not at all like the false pagan gods.
GOSPEL: Luke 5:1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, 2 He saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then He sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if You say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed Him.
Peter, Andrew, James and John had been disciples of John the Baptist. They had listened to his preaching and they had prepared themselves for the arrival of the Messiah. The time came and John the Baptist pointed Him out to them. They were ready to follow. So when the time came, Our Lord put Peter to the test. After an entire night of fruitless work, Peter was still willing to obey Our Lord. Even though he was completely exhausted, he still chose to obey. He was rewarded with a miracle to show him that Jesus was the Lord. This is also why when Jesus tells all four of them to follow Him, they are willing to do so. They had prepared themselves to be ready when God came calling upon them. Make yourself ready by going to Confession, reading you Bible, praying your Rosary, and looking for acts of charity you can perform.
Thank you 🙏. You have prepared my heart for Mass and for preparing for Lent.
A thought came to me at mass during the reading about this fishing miracle, tell me your thoughts. Peter and the crew were down on their luck but the catch that Jesus permitted made them quite wealthy, I presume. Maybe they were able to follow Jesus in part because they were able to leave their fishing jobs? and of course, they now completely believed in Jesus.