Sunday Sermon - 7.23.23
LATIN MASS - EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EPISTLE: Romans 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. 14 For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father). 16 For the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God. 17 And if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.
Anytime that a Protestant tries to tell you that we are saved by faith alone, read them this passage. Especially since this letter is from St. Paul and they try to claim that he taught the doctrine of faith alone. Read very carefully what he says here and take note of how many conditional words he uses in just this small passage. IF you live according to the flesh. IF by the Spirit. IF we suffer with Him. St Paul NEVER taught faith alone and this is absolutely clear in just this passage. He is writing to those who ALREADY believe and are saved. And St. Paul is absolutely clear that their salvation is still conditional on whether they obey Christ and His commands. Our salvation is conditional on whether we choose to suffer with Him. This isn’t up for debate. Faith alone is false.
GOSPEL: Luke 16:1 And He said also to His disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer. 3 And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed. 4 I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 Therefore calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord? 6 But he said: An hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him: Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7 Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? Who said: An hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him: Take thy bill, and write eighty. 8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. 9 And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity; that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.
This is one of the more interesting passages of Scripture. Jesus Himself says that the children of this world (those without the salvific grace of God) are wiser than those who are children of light (those in a state of grace and in communion with God). How is this possible? How are those who are children of Satan wiser than those who are children of God?
Well because those who are children of Satan actually behave and act according to the beliefs they claim to hold, while sadly many Christians do not. They have no truth and all fervor, while Christians have all truth and no fervor. We cannot get off our lazy behinds and act on the beliefs that we claim to hold. We are cowardly when we have nothing to fear.
When Jesus says to make friends with the mammon of iniquity, He is telling us to be practical, and to act on what we claim to believe. We should be prudent and like the dishonest steward, we should recognize the situation we are in and act accordingly.
NOVUS ORDO: SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
OLD TESTAMENT: Wisdom 12:13 For neither is there any God besides You, whose care is for all people, to whom You should prove that You have not judged unjustly; 14 nor can any king or monarch confront You about those whom You have punished. 15 You are righteous and You rule all things righteously, deeming it alien to Your power to condemn anyone who does not deserve to be punished. 16 For Your strength is the source of righteousness, and Your sovereignty over all causes You to spare all. 17 For You show Your strength when people doubt the completeness of Your power, and You rebuke any insolence among those who know it. 18 Although You are sovereign in strength, You judge with mildness, and with great forbearance You govern us; for You have power to act whenever You choose. 19 Through such works You have taught Your people that the righteous must be kind, and You have filled Your children with good hope, because You give repentance for sins.
What a beautiful passage on the omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of our God! He is loving and patient with us when we do not deserve it. He gives us mild and tender care when we deserve a literal hell. He patiently tries to encourage us to turn towards Him to be freed of our sin and become His child. Go to Confession!
NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
God the Holy Ghost knows everything. He is co-eternal with both the Father and the Son. Even with an eternity to learn of Him, we will still never learn everything about Him. He knows literally every single thing about us though. All we need to do is listen to Him and be open to Him. He will not leave us without His loving care and compassion.
GOSPEL: Matthew 13:24 He put before them another parable: “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
31 He put before them another parable: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable He told them nothing. 35 This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples approached Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the Kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will collect out of His Kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
If you ever wondered why God is patient, even with the evil barbarians who invade our Church today, read this parable of the wheat and weeds. God, for reasons we cannot fathom yet, is patiently allowing the evil horde inside the Church and inside the priesthood to attack the Bride of Christ. It is not for us to know why at this time, but our job is to fight these evil men in the Church. Eventually Christ will redeem and cleanse His Bride the Catholic Church. We must be faithful soldiers in the meantime, even if it means we lose battles often. The war will be won by Christ, so have faith in Him.
One final small note on the parable of the mustard seed, this parable shows the error of many Protestant denominations. They work very hard, studying the New Testament and especially the Book of Acts, to try and create their own mustard seed through setting up their own small manmade church. They will ultimately fail because Jesus only built one Church, and rather than try to plant their own mustard seed, they should instead look for the giant towering mustard tree (Catholic Church) and join it.
Thank you for the prep for Mass tomorrow 🙏 for a good sermon.
Debate is not my strong suit. I will have one last go at this. Just as God did not "cut" the covenant with Abram (before the name change) in Genesis 12, He does not covenant with us for salvation. Abram cut the animals in two, but God Himself passed through the pieces, stating thereby that He would bear the punishment if the covenant were broken. Romans 4: 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. John 6:29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Christ entered the Holy of Holies on our behalf, He said "It is finished". In the eyes of God we are holy, justified and righteous because of Christ's atonement. Nothing else is lacking. If good works could earn salvation, why did Christ have to suffer an excruciating death?
Now with all that being said . . . the good tree produces good fruit, not because it wants to become a good tree, but because it is a good tree. Because God is God, and we are not, we believe that our salvation rests on the perfect work of Christ, and we work as if it depends on us. How can we (being what we are) add anything to His perfect sacrifice? His Spirit works mightily within us to transform us into His image.