The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

St. Paul encourages us to follow Jesus ever more closely — walking in love. We must strive with even greater efforts to put off the sins of self-love or selfishness because this is idolatry. Our personal path to Calvary remains before us. We still have battles to fight, temptations to resist, and glories and victories to win. We must strive to walk through these battles motivated and encouraged by the love of God. It is love that makes everything possible. We can observe this in the material realm around us, but it is even more true in the spiritual world.

In today's Gospel, Jesus cured a deaf and dumb man by driving out a devil that was causing his loss of hearing and speech. The Jews presented a calumny against Jesus — that He drove out devils by the power of devils. Jesus, then, points out the unreasonableness of the Jews' accusation. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. The kingdom of Hell and all those in the Kingdom of Hell work against the Kingdom of Heaven and all those in the Kingdom of Heaven. Evil is eternally opposed to Good, and Good is eternally opposed to evil.

Good and evil often appear to be intermingled in this life, but this is probably more like the ground at the forefront of a battle that is repeatedly lost and then won back again. Because of our weakness, we find ourselves subsequently influenced by evil and then good — over and over again. We must ever pray and strive for final perseverance. When our souls are under the power and influence of good, we must strive to keep it that way and never allow evil to gain the upper hand again. With each fall, or each return of sin into our souls, we need to humbly learn something, cast out the evil, and then advance in wisdom as well as grace. In this way, God can and does draw greater good out of every sin.

When the Kingdom of Heaven drives out one devil, the kingdom of Hell brings forth even more devils in a counter-attack against the Kingdom of Heaven. We note that the reciprocal may also be true. When the devils drive out one virtue from a soul, the Kingdom of Heaven works to restore the one lost virtue and a multitude of virtues. "Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more."

We are in the middle of a battle. This particular battle may soon be over, but the war between good and evil — Heaven and Hell — God and devils — will continue to the end of time. We must not allow ourselves to grow weary of the fight or become lax in our efforts. When we think our battles are over, we soon become careless, and the devil that God chased out soon returns with seven others worse than himself, and the state of our souls becomes even worse than before.

The battle we face today needs to become the rallying point to keep us constantly moving forward no matter what obstacles the devils, the world, and our fallen natures put before us. This Lenten battle may soon end, but after this battle ends, there will be another and another for the rest of our days — even for the rest of time. The war does not end until Jesus returns on the Last Day.

Our sins and spiritual failings are the means God gives us to grow in humility, remorse, and penance. This all leads to an increase in the love of God. When the love of God increases in our hearts and souls, then true happiness simultaneously increases as well. When we cooperate with God's grace in growing in humility and penance, we receive even more graces. The habits of sins become habits of virtue. God is honored and glorified, and we advance toward Heaven with each successful battle.

This Lenten season will soon be over. However, our spiritual growth should not come to an end. We need to take the development of our penances and mortifications of this Lenten season and transform them into growth in grace and virtue. Humbly recognizing our sins and failures is a reason to thank God. Repenting and doing penance for our sins is a more significant reason to love. Growing in grace and virtue is the most excellent reason and means for us to truly love Him.

email: father@friarsminor.org Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?

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