Sunday Sermon - 3.26.23
LATIN MASS: PASSION SUNDAY
EPISTLE: Hebrews 9:11 But Christ, being come an high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, that is, not of this creation: 12 Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by His own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? 15 And therefore He is the mediator of the New Testament: that by means of His death, for the redemption of those transgressions, which were under the former Testament, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
The Eucharist IS the New Covenant. The Eucharist is the eternal sacrifice of Calvary of the Son that is offered to the Father through the Holy Ghost. Christ offers His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to the Father to reconcile mankind with God. The God-man becomes the one mediator of this New Covenant. He who is the Hypostatic Union of God to man, is how mankind is once again reconciled to God. Always remember that when you receive the Eucharist, you are eating the Paschal (Passover) Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
GOSPEL: John 8:46 Which of you shall convince Me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe Me? 47 He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. 48 The Jews therefore answered, and said to Him: Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered: I have not a devil: but I honour My Father, and you have dishonoured Me. 50 But I seek not My own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Amen, amen I say to you: If any man keep My word, he shall not see death for ever. 52 The Jews therefore said: Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest: If any man keep My word, he shall not taste death for ever. 53 Art Thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom dost Thou make Thyself? 54 Jesus answered: If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father that glorifieth Me, of whom you say that He is your God. 55 And you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I shall say that I know Him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do know Him, and do keep His word. 56 Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see My day: he saw it, and was glad. 57 The Jews therefore said to Him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I AM. 59 They took up stones therefore to cast at Him. But Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.
For those who refuse to see and believe, no amount of evidence will ever be sufficient. God Himself is physically present in front of these men and explicitly telling them who He is. He had just recently performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand and walking on water. Even with this as proof of who He is, they still refuse to believe. They are willfully blind. At His first coming, Jesus came for mercy to the lost sheep of the world. At His second coming, He will bring judgment with Him. Keep diligently praying for those that refuse to believe, that perhaps the Holy Ghost will soften their hearts and they will believe in Him.
NOVUS ORDO: FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
OLD COVENANT: Ezekiel 37:12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O My people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.
God is not God of the dead, but of the living. The Holy Ghost created us and gives us life. We only have life through Him. What God promises of eternal life, He will deliver. We have been offered the New Covenant, and we must accept it and the requirements of the New Covenant to be saved by it.
NEW COVENANT: Romans 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you.
Work very hard to avoid sin and the near occasion of sin. Keep going to Confession frequently. Keep your soul in a spotless condition. Always keep praying and you will find that your sanctification will increase and you will overcome (through the power of Christ) the evil temptations of this world and become one with Him.
GOSPEL: John 11:1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom You love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, He said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11 After saying this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that He was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One coming into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw Him, she knelt at His feet and said to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank You for having heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 When He had said this, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” 45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him.
Christ has all power in Heaven and on earth. He has the power to forgive sin and the power to raise the dead. He has conquered death and sin. Neither of these will conquer those who believe in Him and obey Him. You love Christ by keeping His commandments. Always obey Christ even when it seems difficult. Just as it was difficult for the sisters to understand why Jesus delayed coming to help Lazarus, they still believed in Him. Christ rewarded their faith and belief in Him by performing His greatest miracle of raising someone from the dead. (The raising of Lazarus from the dead was different than the resurrection at His Second Coming we will all experience at the Last Judgment.)