The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

We stand once more on the threshold of the season of Lent. This is our second penitential season of the year, and perhaps the most important. It is a time of preparation so that we may culminate the season with the remembrance of Christ's Passion and most agonizing death on the cross in reparation for our sins. This is a very sad thought and many would accuse the Church of spreading a dark and gloomy cloud over this time, and being most negative. But, this is not true. It is The Resurrection that we look forward to with great joy and anticipation. Christ the first to rise from the dead will one day raise us all from the dead.

Now every Catholic knows that before there can be a Resurrection, there must first be a death. And before the death there must be the cross. The cross and suffering must come before the joy and celebration of the Resurrection.

It is in this spirit that St. Paul is writing to us today of Charity. If we are to enter this season of penance correctly we must be motivated by Love. Without love all our sacrifices and penances and all of our works are in vain. And if we pass this penitential season in vain then there will be no glorious celebration of the Resurrection for us either. It is essential that we enter willingly and cheerfully into this penitential season as Christ took up His cross for us. But, most importantly we must enter and continue all the way through this season with love in our hearts. This was the driving force behind Our Lord's sacrifice for us and so it must be likewise our driving force to make whatever sacrifices and penances we perform.

We often hear of the beauty and joy of love, but we seldom think of the pain and suffering that love brings upon us. The greatest love is in laying down one's life for those whom one loves. This is what Christ exemplified for us over two-thousand years ago; and this is the love that the saints and principally the martyrs throughout history have returned to Him. And they are all calling out to us to follow them in love.

I dare say that only those who have suffered in/for love have any idea of what it means to truly love. For most have only scratched the surface of affection and think they have loved. They imagine that they have suffered but their "suffering" is all too often only slightly bruised pride, rather than the heart crushing pain that comes from true self-sacrificing love that is all too often unrequited.

In today's gospel Our Lord tells His followers all that is about to transpire concerning the suffering and death that await Him and then of His Resurrection three days later. But, all of this never sinks in. They just do not get it. It is so contrary to our human way of thinking. It goes against almost every fiber of our nature. The Apostles might be forgiven for their lack of understanding, but we with over two-thousand years of hindsight cannot be so quickly forgiven if we fail to grasp the significance, and importance of this event.

Too often we are like the blind man. And like the blind man we fail to see the truth before us. The blind man had hope that Christ could help him and he cried out in this hope despite all the attempts by others to silence and suppress this hope of his. This hope must be ours likewise. No matter how hopeless our situation may appear to us and/or to those around us, we must not give up but increase our hope like this blind man. In response to this hope he is heard by Christ. Now we see the man's faith: "Lord that I may see." And according to his faith he was healed.

Like this blind man we must not fear or be despondent, but be filled with hope and faith so that we are able to benefit from the graces that God is constantly offering to us. But above all we must have charity. For without this all else is empty. Without love all life loses its meaning and purpose.

We were created to love and without love we are lost.

Let us plan out our Lenten season with our penances and sacrifices filled with faith and hope that God will be pleased and will give us a reward greater than we can imagine (Not only raising us from the dead, but lifting us up to eternal happiness with Him in heaven.). But, above all let us enter and live out this Lenten season and the rest of our lives filled with Charity for God and our fellow men. It is this virtue of love that gives worth and meaning to all our works, even the most insignificant of our actions. The greater the love, the greater the sacrifice must be and consequently the greater the sacrifice is the greater the reward will be. Much will be forgiven to those who have loved much.

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