THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Saints Philip and James

11 May 2025

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends in Christ,

In today's Gospel reading (Saint John 14:1-13), Saint Philip elicits from Jesus a fundamental explanation of Jesus' role, relationship, and unity with the Father. This reading is particularly relevant to our sermon today as it forms the basis of our understanding of Jesus' teachings and his relationship with the Father. Jesus clearly explains that He and the Father are One. He that sees Jesus sees the Father. He that hears Jesus hears the Father. Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus.

To know God, we need to know Jesus. We do not have the benefit of being able to question Jesus directly as Saint Philip has done, but we do have Saint Philip's questions and Jesus' answers. We have the recorded history of Jesus' words and actions. The Life of Jesus here on earth is the Life of God here on earth. Recording all these things is essential for our understanding of God and our relationship with Him.

God creates us, but we have wandered far from this necessary relationship throughout history. Jesus, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, came to reestablish a correct relationship between us and God (Himself). His life, a transformative journey from Birth to Resurrection, showed us the way to Heaven. The Life of Jesus is not just a guide, but a powerful inspiration that we must follow and imitate to enter the Kingdom of God.

We cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven without uniting ourselves with Jesus. We cannot be Jesus' disciples unless we follow Him. He has made it abundantly clear that if we are to be His disciples we must daily deny ourselves, which means putting aside our own desires and needs, embrace our crosses, which are the challenges and difficulties we face in life, and follow Him. The key to our eternal happiness is in following Jesus.

Yes, we all want to follow Jesus in the Resurrection and eternal glory of Heaven, but many fewer souls wish to follow Jesus in the pain, sorrow, and suffering of Calvary.

The penalty of sin is death and with death comes daily pain, sorrow and suffering. Because of sin we must all die, because of death we must all suffer. It is a demonic rebellion to seek some way to shirk these necessary corrections and purifying means which God has appointed for us. If we truly love God, we genuinely love Jesus. In Jesus we see the necessity of our crosses and physical deaths.

Jesus did not come to remove the temporal consequences of sin but rather the eternal consequences of sin. Everyone must embrace the temporal consequences of suffering and death in this life. In Jesus, we see the justice of God and the justice of the punishment of sin. Jesus tells us not to fear death and suffering; they are only temporary. There is life after death, a promise that fills us with hope and reassurance.

Every cross in our lives is a loving gift from God. We are given the key to atone for our sins and transgressions. Far from despising and trying to escape our daily crosses, we should welcome them and be grateful to God for them.

Jesus' Life was not taken from Him on Calvary because He freely gave His Life on Calvary and took it up again on Easter morning. To follow Jesus in the Resurrection, we must first willingly or freely embrace our daily crosses. We must freely and willingly accept our injuries, illnesses, pains, sufferings, etc. as the just correction and cure for our souls. These come to us from the hand of our loving Father in Heaven, and Jesus has shown us that we need to embrace them not run away from them.

Our fears are very shortsighted. We should strive to see past the immediate cross and lift up our eyes to the happiness of Heaven. These temporal pains are not worthy of comparison to the joys that await us in Heaven.

Jesus is God, and His Life here on earth shows us that this life is temporal and ends in death as a true and just consequence of sin. But the death that is received adequately out of love of God and humbly accepted as the just consequence of our transgressions is rewarded in resurrection and eternal life in Heaven.

Jesus has paid the infinite price of our sins and opened the Gates of Heaven so that we may one day enter them, but He requires that we do our part as well. We must embrace our temporal crosses in imitation of Him and in following Him if the merits of His Sacrifice are to be applied to us. If we flee from the temporal consequences of our sins, then the eternal merits of Jesus' Sacrifice will never be applied to our souls.

We need not fear our crosses and sufferings because they bring us to eternal life. Jesus would have us welcome them and embrace them. He promises that if we will embrace our daily crosses for the love of Him, He will make them light, sweet, and joyful.

We often find ourselves praying for the relief of crosses and burdens of this life. This is good, however, many times these things are necessary for the cure and health of our souls. Perhaps we should consider praying as Jesus prayed in the Garden the night before He died. "Father, Not My Will, but Thy Will be done." We might try asking God if He cannot take this particular cross away from us, then that He might give us more graces to lovingly accept and embrace it, so that we may experience, through His help, how light it is; how sweet it is; and how joyful it is to bear these things with love in our hearts.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us!