Sunday Sermon - 6.22.25
LATIN MASS: SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EPISTLE: 1 John 3:13 Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. 16 In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth.
We must love in deed and in truth. Love is active. Love is a verb, not an emotion. Your actions speak so loudly that I can’t hear what you are saying. This doesn’t mean that our words do not matter. They absolutely matter and they can save or damn us. But our actions must follow our words, or our words mean nothing.
The man that hates his brother in Christ is a murderer. The Apostle John is being serious here. This isn’t rhetorical flourish. Hating a brother in Christ makes you a murderer because you are betraying someone who is in the Body of Christ. You are hating on someone who is also in the family of God with you. Your hatred could send this brother away from the Church and away from salvation. You are risking their eternal soul with your hatred. You are risking their eternal death, which is much worse than our mortal death. The person who kills the soul of another is worse than the person who kills their body. Their body will be resurrected, but if they are damned, their soul will not be resurrected.
Remember as stated above, love is not an emotion. So you do not have to like all our brothers in Christ, but you do have to love them. You must treat them with the charity love of Christ, even if they are unpleasant to you personally. And pray for them. Praying for your enemies helps to foster that love and charity in your soul for those you hate.
GOSPEL: Luke 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever. 17 The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him: but you shall know Him; because He shall abide with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while: and the world seeth Me no more. But you see Me: because I live, and you shall live. 20 In that day you shall know, that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. 22 Judas saith to Him, not the Iscariot: Lord, how is it, that Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us, and not to the world? 23 Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him. 24 He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words. And the word which you have heard, is not Mine; but the Father's who sent Me.
Christ has ascended to the Father, yet He remains with us until the end of the world. He does this through the Eucharist. So we must love Christ by keeping His commands. If we shall obey His words, He will come to us in the Eucharist, and the Holy Ghost will also abide in our souls. We really should spend more time contemplating over the fact that two of the three Divine Persons of the Trinity want to come and be with us and in us. They also promise us, the Son and the Holy Ghost, to raise us up on the last day to be with them and the Father in Heaven for eternity.
All we have to do is obey Our Lord. Seems like a good offer.
NOVUS ORDO: SOLEMNITY OF MOST HOLY BODY & BLOOD OF CHRIST
OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis 14:17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of Heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
Our Lord is the new High Priest in the New Covenant. He is not of the priestly order of the Aaronic priesthood under the Old Covenant. He instead is of the priesthood of Melchizedek. Similar to the gifts brought by Abraham to Melchizedek, of bread and wine, we bring these same gifts to the High Priest and He transubstantiates them into His Body and His Blood.
Notice as well that Melchizedek is the king of Salem. Salem is also know as Jeru-Salem. Salem means “peace” in Hebrew, and Jeru means “may God see”. So Melchizedek is the king of peace, and Our Lord is a priest according to Melchizedek, so He is the King of Peace. Melchizedek is the king of the same place where Our Lord was crowned as King during His Passion and where He was crucified. This is the same place where Our Lord offers us His Body and Blood at the Last Supper (which were also bread and wine once) and on the Cross.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this Bread and drink the Cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
The High Priest, Our Lord, transubstantiates bread and wine into His Body and Blood at the Last Supper. He then gives this same Body and Blood the very next day on the cross to redeem the world. We now at Mass actually participate in this same offering at the Last Supper and the Cross. It is not a separate or different sacrifice at each Mass. It is a participation in the one sacrifice of Christ.
GOSPEL: Luke 9:11 When the crowds found out about it, they followed Him; and He welcomed them, and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured. 12 The day was drawing to a close, and the Twelve came to Him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.” 13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so and made them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to Heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
Those who doubt that the Eucharist is the literal Body and Blood of Our Lord are actually doubting that Jesus is God. That’s ultimately what they are denying. Jesus several times gives miracles related to feeding multitudes or changing substances. There is this feeding of the five thousand. There is also the feeding of the four thousand. There was the feeding of the Israelites in the desert with manna, which was bread from heaven. God changed water into wine. He turned all the waters of Egypt into blood. He is omnipotent and anyone doubting that the Eucharist is the actual Body and Blood of Christ are doubting if Jesus is God. It is really that simple.
Do not doubt, but believe. (Mark 11)