The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friends in Christ,

When Jesus was first presented in the Temple, Simeon blessed the Holy Family. He said to Mary: "Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed."

Jesus is first presented to God in the Temple, but then He is given to us. Our Savior is offered to us so that we may offer Him and His perfect Sacrifice to God. Jesus offers us the opportunity to make our sacrifices to God in union with His perfect Sacrifice.

To see with the eyes of our souls that the Infant Jesus is not only Human but is Divine as well is the opportunity for us to rise with Him. If we fail to see His Divinity and the necessity of making personal sacrifices to unite with His, it will be our fall from grace and life. Jesus is truly a sign that is contradicted. Either we are with Him, or we are against Him. Either we love Him, or we do not love Him. Either we worship Him, or we do not.

We find ourselves at a spiritual crossroads. We must choose one way or the other — Life or death. The choice between the path of worldly pleasures and the path of eternal life is a weighty decision. If we look with worldly eyes, the path of death seems very tempting. It is filled with earthly pleasures. It promises temporary pleasures to entice us, and many fall to this temptation and choose the worldly road. If we look at the road leading to eternal life, we see the cross, suffering, and sacrifice. This is the polar opposite of the worldly life of pleasure.

We must strive to be able to see past the immediate or the temporary aspects of each path. We must strive to see with spiritual eyes into the eternal world in which each path ends. The urgency of our spiritual growth is evident in our inherent desire for eternal happiness, but the temporal promise of pleasure deceives many. Pleasure is not happiness. Pleasure is temporary and passing. Pleasure is often accompanied by regret, remorse, disgust, and even loathing. We can easily observe this in those who have given themselves over to the addictive pursuit of pleasure. On the surface, these animal pleasures are very attractive, but upon closer examination, we see that they are very superficial and temporary and lead to eternal misery. Our hearts are looking for something better.

If we look with worldly eyes upon the path set out for us by Jesus Christ, we see very little that is pleasurable. The path Jesus lays out for us is rough, difficult, and even painful at times. This is not very enticing to those who will only see with selfish, worldly eyes.

The key is for us to set aside our selfish worldly eyes and strive to see with the eyes of our souls and look beyond the immediate into the eternal. The humility of the Infant Jesus submitting to all the indignity of being seen, thought of, and treated as a helpless baby is not very enticing to us; we are not inclined to follow Him in this situation even though it is less humiliating to us than it is to the Son of God. Yet, this is exactly what He tells us we must do. "Unless you become as little children, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."

With the eyes of our souls, we soon learn that what we want is eternal happiness, not temporal pleasures. Even if they were to last for eternity, temporal pleasures can never satisfy us. Our hearts are made for much more than this. We are created for eternal happiness, which is a deep and lasting fulfillment that comes from living in harmony with God's will. The path to this true happiness is on the Cross, where Jesus showed us the ultimate act of self-sacrifice out of love for us.

However, as we give ourselves to self-sacrifice, self-denial, and the cross, we soon discover that there is hidden in these not only the happiness of our souls now and in eternity but also an authentic experience of pleasure. As Mary gave herself to suffer the piercing of her soul by a sword, there is true happiness or joy in her heart because Jesus is with her. But it is not only genuine happiness that is in her heart, but we dare say that there is even great pleasure as well. This joy in self-sacrifice is what should inspire and motivate us.

While pleasure is not happiness, it is not incompatible with happiness. There is happiness as well as pleasure in willing sacrifice. This is what we see in the Holy Family, but especially in the Blessed Virgin Mary, as they dutifully presented the Infant Son of God in the Temple. The seriousness and solemnity of the occasion and offering are not without happiness or even temporary pleasure.

As we stand at the crossroads of our spiritual lives, we can see the Holy Family, consisting of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, showing us the folly and emptiness of the pleasures of the way of the world, as well as the true joy and happiness of the way of knowing, loving, and serving God in self-denial, sacrifice, and embracing our daily crosses.

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

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