Sunday Sermon - 5.25.25
LATIN MASS: FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
EPISTLE: James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. 24 For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. 25 But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27 Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.
It sounds almost comically obvious that you must love and obey God to be saved. Yet this warning, and many like it, are overflowing in both the New Testament and Old Testament books of the Bible. If a man wishes to be saved, he must walk the narrow path. He must pick up his cross daily. He must love his neighbor as himself. He must go and sin no more. Consider the parable of two sons (Matthew 21) where the son who says “yes” but does not obey his father, and the son who says “no” but still obeys the father. We must actually DO the will of the Father if we wish to be saved. Faith alone does not save.
Another thing to note, is this passage is used many times by those who claim to be “spiritual but not religious” as proof they are justified to reject the Church to be with God on their own. Yet if you read it carefully, it says the opposite. James does NOT say that religion is simply doing acts of charity and we don’t need the Mass or the sacraments. He is saying that we need BOTH. We must be religious towards God, because He is rightly owed our worship, but we must ALSO do His will and perform acts of charity. Another sleight of hand the “spiritual but not religious” crowd does is they cut off the entire quote. They will say true religion is caring for widows and orphans, but they leave off the second part, of keeping yourself unspotted and sinless in this world. The “spiritual but not religious” crowd always want to eliminate the moral laws of God.
GOSPEL: John 16:23 And in that day you shall not ask Me any thing. Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in My Name, He will give it you. 24 Hitherto you have not asked any thing in My Name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full. 25 These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh, when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will shew you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you shall ask in My Name; and I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you: 27 For the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father. 29 His disciples say to Him: Behold, now Thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now we know that Thou knowest all things, and Thou needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou camest forth from God.
The Incarnation really can’t be studied and contemplated enough. God the Son, the Eternal Logos, willingly chose to set aside His glory to kneel down to humanity and become a man. He did this so that He could raise mankind back up to God after mankind had fallen through sin. We deserve judgement, yet Our Lord offers mercy instead. He wants to save us. He wants to be with us. He wants to bring us to the Father. And this is not just Our Lord’s desire. It is the will of the Father as well. Never forget that the Eternal and Infinite Almighty wants to have a personal and intimate relationship with you and to make you part of His Family by bestowing His Name on you and raising you up to Heaven. So act like it.
NOVUS ORDO: SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
NEW TESTAMENT: Acts 15:1 Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the Apostles and the elders.
22 Then the Apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole Church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the Apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, 25 we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
Paul, who is an Apostle and wrote most of the New Testament, still brings a doctrinal matter to the Church for resolution. This not to say that Paul was not given the Gospel directly by Christ, because he was. What this is showing is that even Paul does not go out on his own. He is an Apostle and a Catholic bishop. Yet even he will bring a doctrinal question to the Church so that everyone can know the truth and see the issue resolved with authority. The Christian faith is not determined by individuals by themselves. It is determined by the Catholic Church, which has the authority given by Christ for this. This should honestly give you a sense of peace, since the weight and burden of declaring what is true Christian belief does not fall upon your shoulders. We can listen to the Church that Jesus built.
NEW TESTAMENT: Revelation 21:10 And in the spirit then angel carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for its Temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
The glory of the new Earth and new Heaven that Our Lord will create at the Last Judgment is beyond our comprehension. It has streets of gold and precious stones as the foundation and walls. Notice one small detail that many miss in this description of the new Jerusalem. The HEIGHT of the city is also fifteen hundred miles! The new Jerusalem will not only be a massive city fifteen hundred miles wide and deep, but it will also be fifteen hundred miles high! This new City of God will be a cube shape that radiates glory everywhere. The light from Our Lord will shine through all the gold and precious stones in radiant beams everywhere. If we were to see this City of God in our sinful state right now, it would probably cause us to fall over dead. This is why we must be consecrated by God, cleansed of our sin, purified through the sacraments, and then fully purified by Purgatory so that we are prepared to enter into this eternal glory.
GOSPEL: John 14:23 Jesus answered Judas (not Iscariot), “Those who love Me will keep My word, and My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word that you hear is not Mine, but is from the Father who sent Me.
25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 28 You heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
If you claim to love Jesus, then you must OBEY Him. This isn’t optional. It sounds so trite and obvious, yet it has to be stated over and over again. Our society wants to ignore the commands of Christ while claiming to have faith in Him. We want salvation, but without obeying Our Lord. We want to be cleansed of sin while still actively embracing that same sin. This is spiritual sickness and pride. Give up your sin, go to Confession, and be cleansed by God. Then walk on the narrow path and keep yourself free of sin and free from this wicked world.