Sunday Sermon - 6.16.24
LATIN MASS: FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EPISTLE: Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us. 19 For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope: 21 Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now. 23 And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body.
All of creation is marred by sin. This is why the book of Revelation 21 says that there will be a new Heaven and a new earth. Our Lord will melt away and eliminate our current earth and Heaven. At His Second Coming and the Final Judgment, Our Lord will send all the damned to Hell and also send Hades into Hell as well. He will get rid of this earth and create a new earth that has never experienced the sickness and stench of sin. Our new holy and resurrected bodies, completely free of any tarnish of sin, will also be joined back to our souls. This is why creation groans, waiting for Our Lord to redeem not just us, but also all of creation.
GOSPEL: Luke 5:1 And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon Him to hear the word of God, He stood by the lake of Genesareth, 2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And going into one of the ships that was Simon's, He desired him to draw back a little from the land. And sitting He taught the multitudes out of the ship. 4 Now when He had ceased to speak, He said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answering said to Him: Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at Thy word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke. 7 And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. 8 Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. 10 And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. And Jesus saith to Simon: Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed Him.
Our Lord has an abundance of grace to give to us. An overflowing amount of grace so abundant that we can’t even contain it all. He will have us swimming through an ocean of His grace and mercy, if we will just obey Him.
Look at the story again. Peter, James and John had fished all night long. They had caught nothing. They were hot, exhausted, dehydrated and sore. Every muscle in their bodies ached and they had nothing to show for it. It was at THIS moment that Our Lord asked them to go one more time for Him. Begrudgingly, they obeyed. They told Our Lord they had failed all night, but if He told them to go once more, they would obey Him.
They obeyed Our Lord and their boats were nearly sunk because they caught so many fish! This is similar to the Wedding in Cana, where Our Lord makes the servants fill up about 80 gallons of water into 6 large jars. They have to carry bucket after bucket from the well and pour it into the jars. After all of their effort, Our Lord then performs His miracle. Be patient with Our Lord. He will not be late even by one second and His timing will be impeccable. Be ready to work for Him. He’s not kidding when He says we need to be laborers in His fields!
NOVUS ORDO: ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
OLD TESTAMENT: Ezekiel 17:22 Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind. 24 All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord. I bring low the high tree, I make high the low tree; I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it.
This prophecy is fulfilled in the Catholic Church. God broke off a small remnant from Israel as the tender sprig to grow His Church. His twelve Apostles were all Israelites and from them was built the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And as the prophesy says, birds of every kind will live in it and all manner of creatures will be under its shade. Men and women from every nation, race, tribe and place will be part of the Catholic Church.
NEW TESTAMENT: 2 Cor 5:6 So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.
These verses sometimes are used by Protestants to argue against the doctrines on Purgatory. What ironic is that they usually change the text here to instead say “to be absent the body is to be present with the Lord”. But the text doesn’t actually say that. It just says that when we are in our bodies, we are absent from the Lord. It doesn’t say there is no place/process in between being in our body and being with the Lord. Be wary of that change in Scripture that is often made.
Note as well verse 10. This one verse by itself refutes the doctrine of Faith Alone. We all, even those who are born again and saved, must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. At that judgment, we will receive from Our Lord what we are due from what we have done in the body whether good or evil. So even those who are saved must still receive their recompense for their evil acts they committed. This is what happens in Purgatory. We are purified of the temporal effects of our evil acts.
GOSPEL: Mark 4:26 He also said, “The Kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30 He also said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
33 With many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 He did not speak to them except in parables, but He explained everything in private to His disciples.
The Catholic Church is the Kingdom of God. This obvious fact escapes a lot of people. It is not in the future but right here and now. This is His Kingdom. So we should act like it and obey Our King. We need to be busy doing His work. We need to scatter seed and harvest while we have time. Because as we see in the prior reading, we will be facing judgment very soon.
Many people think they are supposed to create their own Kingdom of God by creating their own mustard seed. So they read and study the Bible to try and create their own “church” and try to emulate the mustard seed of the Catholic Church they see in Scripture. What they ignore is the giant mustard tree sitting right in front of them.
… this Sunday’s Masses. 🙏📿
I’m happy to see you back! Thank you for a clear review of the readings for the