Sunday Sermon - 8.4.24
LATIN MASS: ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
EPISTLE: 1 Corinthians 15:1 Now I make known unto you, brethren, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; 2 By which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures: 4 And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures: 5 And that He was seen by Cephas; and after that by the Eleven. 6 Then He was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, He was seen by James, then by all the Apostles. 8 And last of all, He was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 10 But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and His grace in me hath not been void, but I have laboured more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Many people make the error of thinking that if they have the Bible, then they have the gospel that Paul preached. But that’s not correct. Paul announced the gospel to the Corinthians orally before he ever wrote 1 Corinthians. Here he gives a quick summary of the most crucial part of the gospel, but he’s not saying the entire gospel is contained in these verses. He also doesn’t say that the entire gospel is contained in Scripture. He explicitly says that the oral traditions (Sacred Tradition) and written traditions (Scripture) are different (2 Thess 2:15). He also never says that the entire gospel is written down. That is a common error among Protestants. Which is also why they believe when St Paul says to test everything, they think that means they test it against their interpretation of the Bible. But that is in error.
Misconceptions about what the Bible actually says can lead to very destructive beliefs and heresy. Almost every single heretic in history has used Scripture to try and support or defend their heresy. The Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth (1Tim 3:15) for a reason.
GOSPEL: Mark 7:31 And again going out of the coasts of Tyre, He came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32 And they bring to Him one deaf and dumb; and they besought Him that He would lay His hand upon him. 33 And taking him from the multitude apart, He put His fingers into his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue: 34 And looking up to Heaven, He groaned, and said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened. 35 And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. 36 And He charged them that they should tell no man. But the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it. 37 And so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; He hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
Our Lord could have just said “be thou opened” and this man’s deafness and muteness would have been cured immediately. Yet that’s not what Our Lord does. He instead chooses to physically touch this man and use His own spittle to work this miracle. Our Lord chooses to work this miracle through creation, through carnal matter. Through these and other actions, Our Lord points to His own Incarnation, when the Word of God BECAME Flesh. The Son did not put on a human skin suit. He BECAME Flesh. God chooses to work through creation, through His own work.
This points to the sacraments and their incarnational nature. God works the miracles of the sacraments (and they are miracles) by channeling His grace through created matter. Our Lord uses a priest, bread, wine, water, oils, and human beings to bring His grace to mankind. He chooses to be among us.
NOVUS ORDO: EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 16:2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow My instruction or not.
12 “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” 13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”
The Israelites had just witnessed and participated in the ten plagues of Egypt, the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud. They had seen miracle after miracle from God while He led them out of slavery. Yet even still, at the first signs of hunger what do they choose to do? Rather than humbly trusting in God and asking Moses to petition the Lord for food, they complain and grumble. They wish for their slavery again rather than be patient and wait for God to act.
Yet even with their ungrateful complaints, the Lord graciously gives them the miracles of the manna from heaven and quail. God Himself provides the bread from heaven for them to be able to survive in the desert. Do you think they remained faithful to God even after yet another miracle?
NEW TESTAMENT: Ephesians 4:17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Faith alone is false. St. Paul is adamant about this. Note the language here. You MUST no longer live as the Gentiles live. Christians are required to turn away from sinful lives and live their lives in conformity with God’s holiness and His will.
This is not optional.
GOSPEL: John 6:24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on Him that God the Father has set His seal.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
30 So they said to Him, “What sign are You going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe You? What work are You performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true Bread from Heaven. 33 For the Bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to Him, “Sir, give us this Bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.
Lots of people claim to believe in Jesus, but few actually believe Him. They claim to be Christians, yet when Jesus says over and over again that He is the Bread of Heaven and that we MUST eat His Flesh, they don’t believe Him. They claim He’s only talking symbolically. Yet each time Our Lord is challenged on this teaching in John 6, He gets MORE literal each time He responds. At one point He even says:
“Amen Amen, I tell you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for My Flesh is true food and My Blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood abide in Me, and I in them.”
It has to be asked, how much more plainly does He have to make this? My Flesh is true food. That’s simply NOT symbolic. He’s being absolutely literal.
The Eucharist is a miracle that we cannot comprehend, yet still must believe. It’s absolutely true and do not for a minute doubt it. Our Lord meant it. THIS IS MY BODY.
Thank you for the beautiful explanation of Our Lord and His miracles channeling through his human hands. Believing in our Triune God is such a wondrous gift