Sunday Sermon - 3.19.23
LATIN MASS - FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (LAETARE SUNDAY)
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.
Always remember that by your baptism, you have been born again into new life. You are made a part of God’s family in the New Covenant. (Covenants are how families are made, which is why marriage in the Christian faith is a sacrament and a covenant.) Never forget that you have a heavenly inheritance that awaits you. Do not sully yourself and become once again a child of the flesh, a child of the world, a child of the serpent. Be a child of God. He is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. Be an obedient child and He will shower His graces upon you.
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.
All we have to do is obey Him, even when we don’t understand. We bring Him the meager efforts and goods that we have, and give them over to Him. With those tiny offerings, Jesus can make more miracles than we know what do with. (He of course doesn’t need our offerings, but He wants them so that we can participate in His plan of salvation.) Offer what little you may have, and see what miracles God can grant to you.
NOVUS ORDO - FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
OLD COVENANT: 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.
A small detail that I think many miss in this story is how all the people had to sanctify themselves before they could offer sacrifice to the Lord. They could not come to the Lord in their current state, but needed to clean up both physically and (more importantly) spiritually. They had to cleanse their souls before even attempting to offer sacrifice to God. We must always keep our souls in a state of grace, and keep going to Confession regularly. This is also why, at the beginning of Mass, there is an Act of Contrition for our sins. This Act of Contrition is capable of forgiving venial sins so that we may worship God and celebrate the New Covenant and the Eucharist with a completely clean soul.
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.”
This is an excellent passage from Scripture. Take no part in the works of darkness, but instead expose them! We should absolutely do this. We should expose the secret evil works of darkness committed by those in the Church who are not believers and who are working to undermine and attack the Faith. (A quick note: be cautious not to commit the sin of detraction, which is exposing personal sins and failings of another for no good reason to those who have no right to that information.) We must expose the evil works of darkness which is rampant in the Catholic Church and which attack the Faith and the faithful. Evil actions which undermine the Faith have no right to privacy and the faithful have a right to know the information about them because it is attacking the Church.
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.
This is the perfect encapsulation of those who refuse to see and refuse to believe. Some people will simply refuse to believe in God and refuse to obey Christ. They will spend eternity, sadly, in hell with the demons because their pride will not allow them to see the truth and respond to it. They can see it plainly, but refuse to see it with the spiritual eyes of the soul. They refuse to accept the revelation of God.
Always be ready to confess what Christ has freed you from, and do not be like the cowardly parents of this blind man. Speak boldly and tell others so they have the opportunity to meet Christ and make their decision about whether they will believe Him or not.