The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Today we celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord. This day is central to the Faith. If Christ had not risen our faith would be in vain. But, He has risen and the proofs are incontrovertible.

The mission of Our Lord is now complete. The price of our redemption has been paid. We came into this world as debtors to God and He has paid that debt with His suffering and sacrifice upon the cross. We truly have reason to rejoice and sing the Alleluias today.

Christ has paid the price of our sins; He has redeemed us without our help but He will not save us without our cooperation. It is not enough for us to say Christ has paid the price for us. We must not only accept His gift to us, but we must put it to good use. That is, we must employ this gift for our salvation.

We too are destined to rise from the dead on the last day. Our bodies and souls will be reunited and will come forth from the earth to be judged and then spend all of eternity either in Heaven or Hell, depending upon the use that we have made of the gift of our redemption that He has given us.

It is not enough for us to simply say that we believe as so many mistakenly preach to us, because "faith without works is dead" (i.e. it is not faith at all).

It is not enough for us to simply say that we love God either, because our love is measured by our actions. "If you love Me, you will keep My word."

It is not enough for us to presumptuously hope in God's mercy either. True hope in the mercy of God demands a prerequisite of true faith and love of God and true contrition for our sins.

We must properly understand this great act of love that God has given us if we are to gain any merit. God does not love us "unconditionally", nor does He "accept us the way that we are". Christ's entire teaching is one of change and transformation. He has given us parable after parable to instruct us in the need for us to change. He has forgiven many sinners and sent them away with the command, "Go in peace and sin no more."

Any joy or celebration that neglects our duties and obligations is a false joy or celebration. It is most childish for us to pretend that we do not have to change. We can only truly rejoice in Our Lord's resurrection when we have "put off the old man and put on the new". We must renounce our sinful life and live as new creatures in Christ.

We must take up our cross daily with Him and follow Him. We must be prepared to suffer in this world with Him so that we can resurrect gloriously with Him. If we do not resurrect gloriously with Him, His resurrection becomes a condemnation to us and will fill us with fear and dread on that last day and will be the cause of our eternal misery in Hell.

We cannot truly rejoice in His resurrection unless we join our resurrection with His. We cannot resurrect with Him unless we die with Him. We cannot die with Him unless we suffer with Him. We cannot suffer or die with Him unless we live with Him. But, to live with Him means that we must die to ourselves and the world. Christ tells us that He came not to do His own will, but the will of His Father in Heaven. He came in obedience and He was obedient even unto the death of the cross.

To be able to truly rejoice today as we should we must first be able to say with St. Paul, that: "it is no longer I, but it is Christ living within me." This means that we must at least strive to become perfect as He told us: "because our Heavenly Father is perfect". We must put off our sinful ways and place ourselves in perfect conformity and obedience to God. We must be able to say with Christ that we are here not to do our own wills but the will of our Heavenly Father. We must also become as Him: obedient even unto death.

Let us believe all that He has taught us; Let us hope in all that He has promised us; And Let us love Him as He has loved us: completely with all that we are and all that we have. And let this faith, hope and charity be manifest in the actions of our daily lives.

With each good work; with each act of true obedience; with each true act of repentance; with each suffering and cross; with each act of true love, we conform ourselves more and more to Him. And the more that we conform ourselves to Him the more He lives within us and we within Him, and in this way His victory becomes ours too. And then we can truly rejoice in our Lord's victory over death, because it has become our victory also.

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?