Sunday Sermon - 4.6.25
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 sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross was an infinite and eternal sacrifice. It transcends all time and space. It is not limited to just Calvary and just to that moment in time. Our Lord is omnipresent, which means all of time is present to Him permanently and eternally. Nothing is “past” to Him. This is why His sacrifice is eternal.
Some ask why Our Lady, since she was immaculate and sinless, why she could not have been our salvation. She truly is immaculate and sinless, but she is not infinite and eternal. She is still a creation and not the Creator. So she could not offer an eternal sacrifice that transcends time and space.
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.
The sin of pride is what blinds us to the truth. We refuse to be humble and blind ourselves to the obvious facts right in front of us. They had seen the miracles performed by Our Lord right in front of their eyes, yet they still did not believe. It wasn’t because their eyes didn’t work. It was because they refused to see. In doing so, they even accused Our Lord of being a demon. Pride is the first sin and also precedes every other sin. We commit the sin of pride when we desire sin rather than desiring the will of the Father. So every sin is truly a double sin. We commit the sin of desiring something other than what the Father wants for us, and then we go ahead and do the deed He does not want us to commit.
NOVUS ORDO: FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 43:16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild animals will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people, 21 the people whom I formed for Myself so that they might declare My praise.
God has already made a new thing, when He created the New Covenant to reconcile mankind to Himself. Now He offers to make us into new creations through this New Covenant. We can be made whole again. We can be made pure again. We can die to our former lives and be born again through Him. The desert of pain and emptiness in your soul can be transformed into a new Garden of Eden in you with Our Lord as the Tree of Life in the center. (The Tree of Life was the other tree in the Garden).
NEW TESTAMENT: Philippians 3:8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings by becoming like Him in His death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Through sharing in the sufferings of Christ, we might become like Him. Notice the language Paul uses to warn even us today. He doesn’t say that he is guaranteed of salvation. He chooses his words carefully to show that he must finish the race, walk the narrow path and only then he will attain the goal in Heaven. Paul was an Apostle who raised people from the dead, cast out demons and performed miracles. Yet he wouldn’t even say that he was assured of salvation unless he stayed on the narrow path and finished the race by enduring until the end. The same applies to us today. Your salvation is not assured until you are facing your final judgment. You must choose each day whether you will walk the narrow path and follow Jesus or not.
GOSPEL: John 8:1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again to the Temple. All the people came to Him and He sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test Him, so that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again He bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
The mercy of God triumphs over judgment. He offers us mercy now while we have time to repent. He gives us the opportunity to be forgiven and then to go and sin no more. We must change our lives and turn away from sin. We must embrace Him instead. But do not think for one instance that judgment is not coming. Right now you have the opportunity to receive mercy. But each day you wake up, you are one day closer to your judgment day. You are one day closer to the point in time where you will have no more opportunities to ask for mercy. So ask for mercy now during this Lent.