Sunday Sermon - 8.11.24
LATIN MASS: TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 3:4 And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God. 5 Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God. 6 Who also hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament, not in the letter, but in the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit quickeneth. 7 Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious; so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which is made void: 8 How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather in glory? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.
Comparing between the Old and New Covenant, St. Paul says that the Old Covenant was glorious, so how much more intense and astounding will the New Covenant be for us? The Old Covenant had glory even though it brought death upon us because mankind continued to violate it. Yet the New Covenant has God’s grace and mercy to forgive our sins and bring us new life, so it will be abounding in glory even much more than the Old Covenant.
You have been given a gift more precious than life itself. Our Lord has given you the gift of the New Covenant, which is the Mass and the Eucharist. So make sure you recognize the glory of the New Covenant and appreciate this gift. Never take it for granted.
(FYI, the words testament and covenant are interchangeable. So anytime you hear or read Old Covenant and Old Testament, and New Covenant and New Testament, they are the same thing. The books of the OT and NT were colloquially called the OT and NT because those books taught about those Covenants)
GOSPEL: Luke 10:23 And turning to His disciples, He said: Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. 24 For I say to you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them. 25 And behold a certain lawyer stood up, tempting Him, and saying, Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? 26 But He said to him: What is written in the Law? How readest thou? 27 He answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And He said to him: Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29 But he willing to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead. 31 And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. 32 In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. 33 But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. 34 And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee. 36 Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbour to him that fell among the robbers? 37 But he said: He that shewed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him: Go, and do thou in like manner.
Israelites and Samaritans were enemies. Samaritans had separated from the Israelites and created their own false worship contrary to the proper worship commanded by God at the Temple in Jerusalem in the Old Covenant. They were mortal enemies and had nothing to do with each other. This is why when Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well, it is such a shocking thing for Him to do.
Yet here Our Lord shows that even our sworn enemies are our neighbors. This is such a hard and difficult teaching to accept. Yet accept it we must. We must love our enemies because they are our neighbors. We do not have to like them, but we must love them. We must do acts of charity for others, even our neighbors who are our enemies. Mercy triumphs over judgment as Scripture says, and we must remember that. God will forgive us as we forgive others. Always remember that salvation is conditional on how we forgive others. This is also why we are reminded of this at every Mass when we pray the Our Father.
NOVUS ORDO: NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
OLD TESTAMENT: 1 Kings 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
The Lord provided miraculous bread and water from heaven for Elijah to sustain him on his journey of 40 days through the desert. Elijah here is a prefigurement for Christ, who is the One that all of the Old Testament points to in typology. Elijah journeys for 40 days in the desert, which Christ does as well. He receives bread from heaven and Our Lord gives us the Bread from Heaven which is His Body. Our Lord also is vexed to the point of exhaustion in the Agony in the Garden right before His Passion begins. And similar to Elijah, Our Lord has an angel from Heaven come to strengthen Him for the journey He will undertake up to Calvary.
NEW TESTAMENT: Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
You were marked with a permanent and eternal seal. Two of them to be exact. The mark of Baptism and the mark of Confirmation. These two sacraments have made a permanent and eternal seal on your soul. You are offered an inheritance in Heaven but be careful. These are not guarantees. They convey God’s grace so that you are capable of being saved by Christ on the day of redemption. It does not mean you automatically will be saved. If you choose to reject Christ through mortal sin, and refuse to repent of that sin, you will go to hell.
And rather than those two eternal seals being a glorious crown on your soul in Heaven, those two eternal marks on your soul will burn even hotter and brighter in your soul if you go to hell. They will burn even hotter than the rest of your body will. So choose wisely and choose to obey God and repent.
GOSPEL: John 6:41 Then the Jews began to complain about Him because He said, “I am the Bread that came down from Heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from Heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless drawn by the Father who sent Me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the Bread of Life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the Bread that comes down from Heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven. Whoever eats of this Bread will live forever; and the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is My Flesh.”
As noted even last week, every time that Our Lord is questioned about His teaching on the Eucharist, He gets MORE literal each time He responds. He doesn’t back away from this or say that He is being symbolic or giving a parable. He is being direct and literal. Note the last verse, which absolutely precludes any possibility that He is speaking figuratively about the “Bread” that He is talking about. He literally says that the “Bread” that He is discussing here is His Body that He will give up on the Cross.
The “Bread” that He is mentioning is not His teachings or talking about believing in Him. He says explicitly that the “Bread” is the same Body that He will offer up on the Cross.
Thank you! 🙏 📿