The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Our Lord warns us today so that we will not be scandalized. "They will put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth a service to God. And these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father, nor me."

History does indeed repeat itself. But let us not be scandalized because we are chased out of our churches, or that we are hated and despised by so many who think that they love God and are honoring God by calumniating and persecuting us, or even as Our Lord foretold to the Apostles, they will kill us thinking this is pleasing to God.

Just because all these things take place does not mean that God is impotent, or indifferent, nor does it mean that we are necessarily wrong. On the contrary the majority is almost always (if not always) wrong. Those who are correct and have the truth generally are the minority.

We must not fear or lose heart. It should be an encouraging thing to us to be found, as the Apostles were, worthy to suffer these things for Christ's sake.

Not only must we be hated by the devils and all those in league with them; and by the worldly people; and by the Protestant sects; but even by those who use the name Catholic and claim to believe in Jesus Christ. Yes, it is often even our own friends and family that will turn against us. A man's enemies will be those of his own household.

We must be willing to hate father, and mother, brother and sister, etc. for Christ's sake if we are to be found worthy to enter the kingdom of Heaven. God demands our complete and preferential love. If we love anyone or anything more than God we are no longer worthy of Him. And it seems that we must pass through this test, just as the Apostles did.

Love like gold is useless until it is tried and tested. Once it passes through the fire and is purified, only then does it have real value. It is easy to say that we love God as long as nothing is demanded or even asked of us, but it becomes true love when it is tempered by crosses and suffering. We must always be ready and willing to lose everything even our own lives for the love of God. Christ has told us that the man who saves his life here on earth will lose his life in eternity, but the man who will lose his life here on earth for His sake will gain an eternal life.

Let us not be disheartened when we are calumniated and persecuted, but rather let us rejoice as the Apostles did. Those who hate us have driven us out of our churches. We are no longer welcome in the buildings that were erected by our forefathers, for our continual use, for the continual offering of the Sacrifice of the Mass. The world's most beautiful churches and artwork are now in the control of those who have despised the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and have replaced It with a communion service or a memorial meal. The loss of these material things is truly a monumental loss (worldly speaking), but what are all these things when compared to the eternal mansions that await us in Heaven? To be driven from this world and all its vanity and into eternity and all its true beauty is not so much a curse as it is a blessing.

To be shunned by our friends and family in this world only to find a Heavenly family in the true Mystical Body of Christ is the greatest of blessings.

As mentioned above God is not impotent. He could at any moment turn everything around, but would that be in our best interest? Could we have any empathy for the sufferings of Christ if we never have to suffer?

Let us not fear the cross, or the conflict. But rather let us with the Apostles fight the good fight. Let us not hesitate to sacrifice the perishable things of this earth for the imperishable things of Heaven. As St. Francis teaches us in his Peace Prayer: … It is in giving that we receive, and it is in dying that we are born into eternal life.

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