Sunday Sermon - 3.10.24
LATIN MASS: FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (LAETARE)
EPISTLE: Galatians 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, and the other by a free woman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman, was born according to the flesh: but he of the free woman, was by promise. 24 Which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two Testaments. The one from mount Sina, engendering unto bondage; which is Agar: 25 For Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But that Jerusalem, which is above, is free: which is our mother. 27 For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he, that was born according to the flesh, persecuted him that was after the spirit; so also it is now. 30 But what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free: by the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.
The two women are the two Testaments/Covenants. We have been freed from the Old Covenant and now are children of the New Covenant. God had a plan for us all along to make us children and heirs of the heavenly Jerusalem. This does not mean we have license to sin, but instead freedom to do good. Freedom today is too often confused with license when they are not the same thing. Freedom in Christ is the opportunity to obey Him. His grace is poured out on us so that we may do the will of the Father. We are not free to sin.
GOSPEL: John 6:1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw the miracles which He did on them that were diseased. 3 Jesus therefore went up into a mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. 4 Now the Pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. 5 When Jesus therefore had lifted up His eyes, and seen that a very great multitude cometh to Him, He said to Philip: Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this He said to try him; for He himself knew what He would do. 7 Philip answered Him: Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to Him: 9 There is a boy here that hath five barley loaves, and two fishes; but what are these among so many? 10 Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. The men therefore sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves: and when He had given thanks, He distributed to them that were set down. In like manner also of the fishes, as much as they would. 12 And when they were filled, He said to His disciples: Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost. 13 They gathered up therefore, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten. 14 Now those men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said: This is of a truth the prophet, that is to come into the world. 15 Jesus therefore, when He knew that they would come to take Him by force, and make Him king, fled again into the mountain Himself alone.
This is the miracle of the multiplication of the fish and loaves. Many enemies in the Church today try to claim this was not an actual miracle of Christ. Instead they claim it was a “miracle” of sharing, that Christ convinced them to share the food they secretly had hidden in their clothes and bags. This is literally a damnable lie. It is also a subtle and implicit denial of the Divinity of Christ. Do NOT accept this attempt to rewrite the Scriptures. Confront any priest who tries to claim this was a miracle of sharing. This was a miracle of Christ multiplying the loaves and fish. He reveals His Divinity through His power over the material world. He is setting the stage for later in John 6 where He gives His teaching on the Eucharist.
This is why this blasphemy of the miracle of sharing is such a damnable lie. It attempts to undermine not just the omnipotence of Christ, but also undermine His teaching on the Eucharist and undermine the truth of the Real Presence of Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Eucharist.
NOVUS ORDO: FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
OLD TESTAMENT: 1 Samuel 16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
God sees perfectly and in ways we cannot see. He sees our heart and soul. He sees everything. Nothing is hidden from Him. So He chooses David to be king of Israel and anoints David. God gives to David the throne of Israel to be its king. This is the same throne that Jesus will take up. The Father gives to Jesus the throne of David as it says in Luke 1. Jesus is anointed as well, and the word for “anointed” in Hebrew is Messiah. Jesus is anointed at His Baptism and He is also anointed the night before Palm Sunday (His entry into Jerusalem) with the expensive nard. The word “Christ” also means “anointed one”. And so Christ is anointed and the next day enters Jerusalem as the triumphant King of Israel to take the throne of David.
NEW TESTAMENT: Ephesians 5:8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Live as children of light. Turn entirely away from your past sins of darkness. And expose the works of darkness so that they are revealed to the light. This does not mean you are to expose the sins of others that they may have taken to Confession. It refers to those who are and continue to sin in darkness with no inclination to repent and confess these sins. So much evil committed in the Church was only possible because people did not expose these works of darkness when they first started.
GOSPEL: John 9:1 As He walked along, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not observe the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about Him? It was your eyes He opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this Man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “I do not know whether He is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this Man, we do not know where He comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to one who worships Him and obeys His will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when He found him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is He, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in Him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him, and the One speaking with you is He.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near Him heard this and said to Him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
Only God can restore the sight to the blind. Only He can heal us of our spiritual blindness. The blind man is the only one in this story who could clearly see because everyone else was spiritually blind. He was blunt and to the point. He declared that Jesus was a prophet and when told that He was the Son of Man, he worshipped Him. He didn’t hesitate. Yet the Pharisees refused to believe that a prophet was right before them. Even when told explicitly that He had healed a blind man, they refused to believe. And the blind man’s parents were spiritually blind to the sin of cowardice. They were afraid of the Pharisees, and their own reputation in the community, so they refused to simply state the truth that Jesus was a prophet from God. Only the blind man could see.
We also see in this miracle how God very often works through the material world to manifest His grace and power. That is why the sacraments are both tangible and spiritual at the same time. We use water, bread, wine, oils and other physical elements in the sacraments to convey the grace of God to mankind. Jesus here uses spit and mud to heal the blind man. God made mankind as creatures of both body AND spirit. We are a union of the two, we are not just spiritual beings.
One line here also stands out. The blind man says “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to one who worships Him and obeys His will.” Does this mean that God will not listen to a repentant sinner? Of course not. He happily will listen to that person. But God will not listen to those who are obstinate sinners who refuse to repent. Those who obey His will and worships Him are those He will listen to.
Thank you for this wonderful Sunday homily prep. Stay strong in your words. They are clear simple and true and We need them