The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

No man can serve two masters. Ever since the fall of our first parents we have been plagued with a terrible disorder in our lives. The flesh which was made to serve the spirit is constantly striving to take the lead and force the spirit to obey rather than command. This disorder is seen in the entire world around us, but it is intimately seen and felt within ourselves.

This rebellious flesh of ours lacks faith and trust in God. When we listen to the flesh we become proud and seek to accomplish things on our own. We strive to accumulate wealth, power, and prestige. We become indifferent to the means that we use to accomplish this goal. And with this fallen nature of ours it seems reasonable to accept the faulty logic that the "end justifies the means".

The flesh becomes a tyrant of a master and is never satisfied. And the poor souls that give themselves over to the service of the flesh wear themselves out in fruitless pursuits. They are always in hopes of reaching some state of peace, happiness or repose, but, they never reach this goal because the flesh knows no limits, it will always desire more.

The avaricious man never has enough even though he cannot usefully employ what he already has accumulated. The gluttonous man never is satisfied; he must taste more and more even though he makes himself sick in doing so. The lustful man always hopes for happiness in his next pleasure but the habit has robbed him of the pleasure he once experienced in the gratification of his passions.

The service of the passions leaves one empty, sad, miserable, and frustrated. Yet, this evil master never lets up. It keeps promising peace at the next turn but it is always the same thing over and over again. And ultimately the life long service given to this evil master leads one to the eternal fires of Hell were one will not only loose the false and fleeting happiness that he was in pursuit of here on earth but, now will see clearly, and all the false hope it had is taken from it. It will be filled with despair, hatred, and rage. This soul will be even more miserable because it will see how easy it would have been for him to forsake this evil master and serve the true master when he was still here on earth.

There are many who will read this and believe that they can somehow serve both, but this is exactly what Our Lord tells us in today's Gospel is not possible. Even though we must take reasonable care of our bodies we must ever remember that the body is made for the service of the soul. It is the body that must be the servant.

If we focus our attention on the most important things in front of us then we will not have to worry about anything else. When we strive to love God with our entire being then everything else falls into its proper order. As we begin to love God as we ought we also begin to love ourselves correctly and then we of necessity begin to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

In this right order we have nothing to worry about or to fear. God who is the creator of both our bodies and souls will not give us a body without providing the means to sustain that body as He desires it to be sustained. He does not say that we should do nothing to sustain ourselves but He tells us that He will give us the means to do this _ we must cooperate and do our part too.

There are too many people in this world that pursue the pleasures of the married life but fear or reject the consequences and obligation of providing for a family. If we will willingly and faithfully serve God then we have nothing to fear. If God sees fit to create a family we must believe and obey knowing that He will also provide the means to care for that family. It will require sacrifices and perhaps not indulging the body in all the pleasures it has become accustomed to when it was alone or provided for by its parents, but they will have the means to obtain what they need as long as they cooperate with God.

"Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you."

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?