THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Fourth Sunday after Easter

7 May 2023

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends in Christ,

In today's Gospel reading (St. John 16, 5-14), Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure and the arrival of the Holy Ghost. Sorrow has filled the hearts of the faithful at the very thought of Jesus leaving them. Their sorrow, however, is misguided. Jesus is entering Heaven, where He will have eternal glory and happiness. The disciples should be happy for Him. He and the Father are sending the Holy Ghost to them. The Spirit of God will fill the disciples and bring them even greater joy than the presence of Jesus. Jesus came to them in human form; the Holy Ghost came to them spiritually. He is not present beside them as one human person is next to another. The Holy Ghost enters within them and lives inside them as their constant Sanctifier, Teacher, and Guide.

It is hard for us to shift from the body's physical or material joys to the soul's spiritual joys. The soul's experiences are not always felt in the body; when they are, it is not direct and immediate. Our souls affect the feelings and emotions of our physical bodies, but it is not as straightforward as the physical touch. The pleasures of the soul are far superior to those of the body, but only those who have experienced them can truly understand or appreciate them. For most of us, it is hard to comprehend any happiness or pleasure that is not physical or material. We seldom even consider the state of our souls.

Some of the first experiences of the state of our souls are painful. We examine our consciences, and the pain in our souls bleeds over into our bodies with various ills and maladies that often find no sufficient material cause. We tend to treat physical pain or symptoms to little or no avail, or our treatment causes other physical sufferings. The numbing or deadening of our consciences is not the answer. This only aggravates the spiritual disease, amplifying the physical misery.

The place to begin is in our souls. We must uncover the disease (sins) we have been trying to cover up or ignore. Then we need to repent of our sins, form a good purpose of amendment, humbly confess our sins, and do penance for our sins. This generally causes much discomfort and even distress in our bodies. And this is why so few are willing to do it. We pursue temporary fixes — the bandage fix — that only hide the problem, offers us momentary relief, and leaves it for another day. We treat the body and forget about the real cause of our pain, which is in our souls.

As with physical wounds, we must open them up and clean out the corruption and infection before any true healing can occur. When the injury to our souls is cleaned up and healed, our souls can begin truly living the life we were made to live. Our souls are the life of our bodies, and God is the life of our souls. When we restore God to our souls, our souls truly live, and when our souls are truly alive, our bodies will also truly live.

Jesus came in human form to teach us to stop pursuing the fleeting and temporary pleasure of the material world so that we can see, find, understand, and appreciate the true joys of our souls. To be His disciples, we must deny ourselves daily, take up our crosses, and follow Him. We are to learn from Him to be meek and humble of heart. When we have followed Him in this, then He sends us the Holy Ghost to live (dwell) within us — in our souls. The Holy Ghost fills our souls with true life and happiness — even if our bodies suffer. With the Holy Ghost dwelling within us, our souls are healed, and the way is opened for our bodies to be healed as well.

The course is not easy, but nothing of any true value is ever easy. Every resurrection must first be preceded by sacrifice and death. Physical life comes at a cost that we can easily see and appreciate. We must realize that spiritual life also comes at a price.

We are approaching the feast of Pentecost and welcoming the Holy Ghost into our lives. Still, the joy and celebration of Pentecost are empty and hollow if we have not followed Jesus and died to our material selves. The Holy Ghost is offered to everyone, but only some receive Him because not everyone receives Jesus and willingly follows Him.

We must lovingly receive and follow Jesus before His departure from us can sadden us. We must suffer the loss of the material pleasure of Jesus and His gifts before we can appreciate and experience the greater joy of the spiritual satisfaction of living in The Holy Ghost.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us!