Sunday Sermon - 3.12.23
LATIN MASS: THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
Epistle: Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness. 3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints: 4 Or obscenity, or foolish talking, or scurrility, which is to no purpose; but rather giving of thanks. 5 For know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. 7 Be ye not therefore partakers with them. 8 For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light. 9 For the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth;
Walking in love, striving for all holiness. It is an arduous journey. But Christ never promised an easy or comfortable life. He promised you Heaven and eternal bliss on the other side of this life. All our sufferings will seem like the blink of an eye in the realm of eternity. Focus on that.
And if you have people in your life that are obstinate in wanting unclean and sinful things, you must separate yourself from them. You cannot participate in their evil. We must be willing to give up everything for Christ, even those who are closest to us but they reject God and His holiness.
Gospel: Luke 11:14 And He was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb: and when He had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes were in admiration at it: 15 But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. 16 And others tempting, asked of Him a sign from Heaven. 17 But He seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself, shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall. 18 And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say, that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. 19 Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub; by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 20 But if I by the finger of God cast out devils; doubtless the Kingdom of God is come upon you. 21 When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesseth. 22 But if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him; he will take away all his armour wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. 23 He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth. 24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. 25 And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. 26 Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. 27 And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. 28 But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.
“He that is not with Me, is against Me”
Choose which side you will stand with. Either you are actively working with Christ, or you are against Him. Even those who stand on the sidelines and stay out of the spiritual battle we are engaged in, are those who are against Christ. There is no neutral person in this war. Even the servant who did nothing with his talent is sent to hell. The servant didn’t steal the talent, but he did nothing with it. Christ will send that person to hell too, because they did nothing with the graces that God offers.
NOVUS ORDO: THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
Old Testament: Exodus 17:3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place (Test) Massah and (Quarrel) Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Trusting in the Lord is difficult sometimes. Everything could be in ruin in our lives, and even so we must trust in the Lord. He has a plan for us, and that plan is far greater than anything we can see or imagine. But we must always trust in Him.
New Testament: Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
Suffering produces endurance. Remember that Christ said that he who endures to the end will be saved. He said WILL BE saved, not MIGHT BE saved. We must endure all temptations and sufferings that we experience. Always keeping Christ close and remaining close to the sacraments.
Gospel: John 4:5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by His journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and Who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but You say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am He, the One who is speaking to you.”
27 Just then His disciples came. They were astonished that He was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can He?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to Him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought Him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to complete His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
Strive for the living water of Christ. Not much more needs to be said. Always keep your eyes on Him, and do everything He commands of you. Love God and your neighbor.