THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

30 July 2023

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friend,

Love brings forth many and varied emotions in the human heart. Perhaps only those who have truly loved can appreciate the agony in Our Lord's heart as expressed in today's Gospel. His Heart is a Divine Heart, and as such, He looks upon us as His creatures — His children. His Heart is human, so He looks upon us as His brothers and sisters. Jesus looked down upon Jerusalem and wept.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem. Not one stone was left upon another. Many, with only physical or material thoughts, see and appreciate all that was lost in the destruction of Jerusalem. There is no doubt that it was a great city. There was much history and labor in designing and building it up. It was the culmination of many artists, craftsmen, and laborers and the deposit of much wealth.

However, there seems to be something more important than all this in the Heart and Mind of Jesus Christ. The works of man's hands are nothing compared to the creation of God's hands. The destruction of the works of men is nothing to weep over, but the destruction of God's creatures — primarily the crowning glory of His creation — men is genuinely something to weep over. Jesus tells us that He would have gathered them together as the hen gathers and protects her chicks — but men would not allow Him to do this. The works of their hands were to perish, but worse than this, they were to die, and there was nothing God could do to stop it. He has given us free will and will not revoke it, even when we use it to destroy ourselves.

How the heart of a parent aches when children rebel against their parents and the sound guidance of parents. The "adult" child can do whatever he wants, even to his own harm or self-destruction. Those who have experienced this pain may have a deeper appreciation for Our Lord's tears than the rest. They were not tears over the material things to be lost, but for the souls to be lost.

Following these tears, we see Jesus in the Temple. If children do not listen to sound advice, then they need to experience the pain of correction. This is one last effort to wake these people up and get them to return to correct thinking and acting. The anger of God is not hateful, but rather, an anger of love. Because He loves, He becomes angry and uses force to correct us.

In a very similar manner, we picture Jesus weeping over the Catholic Church today. We witness the destruction of physical things, bringing great sorrow to our hearts and minds. The labor, effort, time, beauty, and wealth invested in building the physical churches appear to have been lost. The Modernists have thrown out almost everything that was once Catholic and spoke to us of the truths of the faith.

Undoubtedly, the loss of material things is great, and many "Traditionalists" have spent a lot of time, money, and effort in preserving some of this. However, there is something of more excellent value than all of this that brings tears to the eyes of God and all those who love Him. Tragically, too many have focused all their attention on statues, books, music, and even ceremonies. The loss of souls is the most important and causes the most incredible sadness and the bitterest tears for Jesus. These souls have been led away from Him by Modernism and Liberalism. In loving anger, God once again struck many with a desire to awaken them to the danger they were in — violence entered the Church buildings and overturned everything. Altars were removed or ignored; references to Christ's sacrifice upon the Cross were removed, etc. As with the Judeans, so it was with the Catholics — they did not listen to the warnings. We see that the physical Church was damaged as the physical Jerusalem was destroyed.

It is not the sight of the physical buildings and cities being destroyed that caused the tears of God. It is the loss of souls that were created in His Image and likeness that causes Him the bitterest tears. May the thought of these Divine Tears awaken sincere repentance for our sins and stimulate us to seek out the protection of Christ as the chick runs to the mother hen for guidance and support.

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