The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Today we read the Passion of our Lord, and are asked to recall to our hearts and minds what Jesus has done for us.

We witness the love of God for us in the institution of the Holy Eucharist. We see His patience with us as we fail to watch and pray with Him. We see Him willingly accepting the wounds and injury we inflict upon Him with every sin we commit.

Everyone, both the Israelites and the Gentiles have sinned in this deicide. How guilty each of us are, is somewhat shown to us as we examine our own consciences.

How often has He asked us to pray, and we have lazily ignored Him? How many times have we been called upon to be counted as one of His, and we have denied Him. Have we sat quietly by as others blaspheme His most sacred name, or God forbid, join in the insult? Have we mocked Him by our repeated sins? Have we struck Him by our sins of the flesh? Have we crowned Him with thorns by our evil thoughts and desires? Have we added weight to that cross He had to carry? Have we nailed Him to the cross? Have we mocked Him, spit upon Him, or ridiculed Him?

Have we even taken the part of Satan in tempting Him as He hung dying upon the cross? Recall how at the beginning of this season of Lent we saw Satan asking our Lord to throw Himself down from the peak of the temple, and now He is tempting again suggesting that if He is really God then He should come down from the cross. We too often tempt God in the same way, always questioning the Faith, and asking for demonstrations (miracles).

Our Lord has plainly told us that there are betrayers among us. We just as the Apostles are brought to doubt ourselves. The few rays of humility we have are enough to cause us to doubt ourselves, so we ask "is it I Lord?" Will I be faithful to the end? But, then how soon we console ourselves in the fact that we perform a few meager devotions through rote habit, and we conclude presumptuously that it is not us.

Our Lord pointed out that He (the Shepherd) will be struck and we (the sheep) will be scattered and scandalized just as prophesy foretold. And we blinded by our pride and vanity reply as St. Peter did: "I would never be scandalized in Thee". This attitude is in effect calling God a liar. He has just told us what we will do and we have the brazenness to contradict Him. He knows us much more that we know ourselves. Just witness the events leading up to St. Peter's denial.

We have done well to find ourselves in the True Church today, but we are by no means secure yet. The battle has just begun. We will only be secure when we leave this world and are welcomed by Christ into Heaven.

We are as the Apostles gathered around Our Lord listening to His words of impending doom. We are incredulous, we are presumptuous, we are proud and vain. The time of temptation is just about to begin in our lives and we are still so weak!

We must watch and pray. We have a glimpse of what we must go through. It has been foretold, so it is foolish to deny it or pretend that it does not apply to us. We can pray to be delivered from this impending trial and suffering, as Our Lord did, but we must likewise give ourselves over to the will of God in the end just as Jesus did: "Not my will but Thine be done."

The battle that awaits the Mystical Body of Christ corresponds to the battle that the physical Body of Christ went through. And we as members of the Body of Christ must partake of the same cross and sufferings of the whole Body.

There is no question that we have all betrayed our Lord by our sins, the question that does remain is what will we do now? Will we find ourselves overcome with pride in our humiliations so that we despair with Judas, or will we be truly humbled and repentant as St. Peter?

We all fear and are scattered, but the degree of our love will determine how or where we find ourselves as this mystery unfolds. Will we have the love of the Blessed Mother, St. John and the holy women, and find ourselves faithfully beneath the cross to comfort Our Lord? Will we be filled with self love and be off hiding in the distance for fear that we may be next? Will we despair with Judas? Will we repent with St. Peter? Will we follow the crowd and cry out for His blood?

It is our degree of love that places us in these various positions. And it is God who instills this love in our hearts, so let us humbly beg God to show us His mercy and give us a true and strong love for Him and His Church.

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?