Sunday Sermon - 8.25.24
LATIN MASS: FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EPISTLE: Galatians 5:16 I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit: and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another: so that you do not the things that you would. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, 20 Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, 21 Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the Kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, 23 Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no Law. 24 And they that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences.
We must always remember that these letters from Paul, and all of the NT books, were written to those who were already saved. They were already believers. Yet time and time again, the Apostles have to warn these believers that they must live holy lives or they are in danger of going to hell. Paul is explicit here, and cannot be more so. Those who do such things shall not obtain the Kingdom of God. Those who live sinful lives will be sent to hell. We must live godly lives if we wish to be saved by Him.
GOSPEL: Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? 27 And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit? 28 And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. 29 But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. 30 And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith? 31 Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. 33 Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Our lives here on earth are short. Our personal judgment day gets one day closer each morning. Keep your focus on God and let everything else flow from that. This does not mean that we are not to be good caretakers of the money and possessions that we have. We should absolutely make sure to plan well and be good stewards of the blessings that God has given us. But this flows FROM first keeping our focus on Him. We must never put our concerns for money, food, goods, safety or anything else above God. Those things are what we deal with AFTER we have first kept our focus on Him.
NOVUS ORDO: TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
OLD TESTAMENT: Joshua 24:1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.
15 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; 18 and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
Each day you should ask yourself this same question. Who will you serve today?
Will you serve God or will you serve yourself? Will you obey Him or obey yourself? Salvation and Heaven really are that simple, yet it is not easy. Denying ourselves is one of the most difficult things we can do, but it is possible through God’s grace in the sacraments. Denying ourselves is simple, but it is hard to do.
NEW TESTAMENT: Ephesians 5:21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the Church, the Body of which He is the Savior. 24 Just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, 26 in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27 so as to present the Church to Himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the Church, 30 because we are members of His Body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the Church. 33 Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.
Isn’t it very telling how this passage causes so much angst and anger in our modern culture? What causes so much hatred in our society that it gets upset about the Bible saying that men should lead their families? Why do so many people, women AND men today, get upset about telling wives to submit to their husbands?
Even right now, you have modern programming running in your mind that is telling you that this message needs to be changed, corrected or softened. It’s too harsh and just too old. Yet how does our culture look today? Are marriages better today compared to years prior? Are families better today? Is society better?
Funny how this teaching is such a hard teaching that so many cannot accept. Similar to John 6:60…
GOSPEL: John 6:60 When many of His disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that His disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray Him. 65 And He said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66 Because of this many of His disciples turned back and no longer went about with Him. 67 So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the Twelve, was going to betray Him.
The Eucharist has caused countless people to leave Christ and choose hell instead. They just simply could not accept what God Himself says. They cannot accept that God chooses to give us His Body and Blood to consume, so that we can participate in the New Covenant.
Our Lord promises that all our sins will be forgiven and we can go to Heaven through the New Covenant, but we have to actually participate in this Covenant. This is how you participate. You MUST eat the Paschal Lamb of God. It’s not a symbol. It’s not a metaphor. It is literal.
We must eat the Lamb of God.