The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

In today's Gospel reading (St. Mark 8:1-9), we are given an insight into the two natures of Jesus Christ. Jesus shows us His humanity because He had compassion upon the multitude, while the multiplication of bread and fish shows us His divinity. This is the second multiplication of bread and fishes. The first time Jesus called the Israelites to see His divinity; this time, Jesus called the Gentiles to Himself. We read that many had come from a great distance. This is true both physically and spiritually. The Gentiles were further from Jesus than the Israelites were. It seems to be a recurring idea that those closest have the least appreciation or understanding of what they are so near to, while those farther away have a much clearer view and understanding. We often find this is even true in our days. Converts from outside the Church often have a much greater appreciation and love for the Sacraments, graces, and blessings than those who have always been near them.

This Gospel reading warns us to shake off the spiritual lethargy that appears to be the bane of those nearest and most familiar with God. St. Maximus (Bishop of Turin, lived 380-465) says: "Beloved, we who believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ, not through the Law but by faith, who are redeemed, not by its works but by grace itself; who are filled, not from the five loaves, that is, from the Five Books of Moses, but by the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, as blessed Isaias had prophesied, saying: The Spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge, and of piety; And he shall be filled with the Spirit of the fear of the Lord (Is. 11)."

Our sanctification (being made holy) does not come to us through inheritance. We did not inherit the Faith from our parents. Saints do not necessarily have saints for children. Priests and religious do not pass on their position in the Church or their graces to biological children because they usually do not have any children. [People can enter the religious life after the death of their spouse, and thus they may have biological children.] The grace of religious or priestly vocations is not given by inheritance but is an individual call from God. It is not the religious or the priest that chooses God, but rather God Who chooses and calls the priests and the religious.

Under the Old Law, the priesthood was an inherited position passed from father to son. In the New Law, the priesthood is given by grace, not by right or law. We often find that the most worthy are not always those closest at hand. The best priests or religious are not necessarily the ones with the highest intelligence or the greatest physical attributes but are the ones with the greatest love of God and their fellow men. It is not the material things that lift us up or improve us, but rather the spiritual things. Our wealth, power, influence, or position (or that of our ancestors) means nothing in the Church or Heaven. It is our personal love of God and desire for spiritual perfection that merit the many graces from God. God does call the best to Himself. Sometimes those who possess the best of material blessings never hear the call of God because they are listening only to the world and not God. The world may regret that God and the Church take so much beauty, talent, and intellect into the celibacy of the convents and seminaries. Still, there is much more to regret when people with these blessings from God give themselves to the world and the devil. The best use of all our material and spiritual gifts is in serving God. The worst possible service we can make of God's blessings is serving the world and the devils.

As in today's Gospel reading, many came from afar, so today, we must often spiritually travel far away from the world's materialism to come near to Jesus. Material blessings are gifts from God, but they are not the greatest blessings. They are, in fact, probably of the least value. All the material things will pass away, and only the spiritual things last forever. It isn't easy to possess both material and spiritual abundance — the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit wars against the flesh. The only way to end this war and make peace between the spirit and the flesh is to make our souls submissive and obedient to the Will of God, and then our bodies will become submissive and obedient to our souls.

May we all cease to trust in material things. Our only true hope and trust is in spiritual things — our love and obedience to God and His holy Will.

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