THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Fifth Sunday after Easter

5 May 2024

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends,

In today's Gospel reading (Saint John 16: 23-30), Jesus is again preparing His Disciples for His departure from this world. We are reminded that Jesus and the Father are One. When we see Jesus, we see the Father. Jesus is God, and though He was born in this world and in time, His Birth was not His beginning. He is from all of eternity because He is God. So, while the Disciples were in the presence of Jesus, they were also in the presence of the Father because the Father and the Son are One.

There is a Third Person to this Blessed Trinity — The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is true God and One with both the Father and the Son. When we receive the Holy Ghost, we receive both the Father and the Son because the Holy Ghost is One with the Father and the Son. They are inseparable. Even though Jesus Bodily ascended into Heaven, Spiritually, He remains with us in the Holy Ghost. God is drawing us nearer to Himself step by step. Our job is to follow Him from the material and natural to the spiritual and supernatural.

Jesus has promised His Disciples that whatever they ask the Father, He will give it to them. The Father will hear their prayers because they have loved the Son.

Saint Augustine says: "That He says anything is not to be understood as meaning anything whatsoever, but something which has to do with the obtaining of the life of the blessed; for what is asked for to the hindering of our salvation is not asked for in the Name of the Savior. For when He says, In My Name, we must understand not the sound of the letters and syllables but what is truly and correctly signified by the sound. Accordingly, he who believes regarding Christ that which is not to be thought of concerning the Only Son of God, does not ask in His Name. But he who believes that which is to be held regarding Him, he truly asks in His Name, and shall receive what he is seeking; if he seeks what is not opposed to his own eternal welfare. And he shall receive it when it is fitting that he shall receive it. For there are things which, while not denied, are yet withheld: to be given in a fitting time."

"Likewise, we should correctly understand the words: He will give it to you, so that by them those favors are to be understood which relate expressly to those who ask. All the sanctified are beyond doubt heard when they pray, not for anyone, but for themselves; for it was not said simply, that He will give, but that He will give to you."

"What follows: Hitherto you have not asked anything in My Name, may be understood in two ways. Either that you have not asked in My Name, because you have not known the Name as it is to be known, or because you have not asked anything; since in comparison with that which you ought to have asked for, that must be regarded as nothing for which you did ask. Therefore, that they may ask in His Name, not for what is nothing, but for the fulness of delight, He goes on: Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full. This saying: the fulness of joy: means spiritual not carnal joy; and it will be full when it is so great that nothing can be added to it."

"Whatsoever, therefore, that is asked for which relates to the attainment of this Joy must be asked for in the Name of Christ. The Divine Mercy shall never disappoint the just who persevere in the desire of that good. Whatsoever else is asked for, nothing is asked for; not that it is really nothing, but that in comparison with this so great joy it is as nothing. Then follows: These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh, when I will no more speak to you in proverbs. I would say that the hour of which He is here speaking must be understood of the world to come; when we shall behold Him clearly, face to face, as the Apostle says; and that the words: These things I have spoken to you in proverbs, relate to what was later said by the Apostle: We see now through a glass in a dark manner (1 Cor. 13. 12). I will show you plainly of the Father; for the Father shall be seen through the Son. Neither doth anyone know the Father, but the Son and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him."

Many are carnal or worldly-minded, and they imagine that they ask in the Name of Jesus, but they do not yet truly ask in the Name of Jesus. Only when we truly believe all that Jesus teaches us through His Church do we believe in Him. Only when all our heart's desire is to be united with Him in Heaven can we genuinely ask that our joy be full. Let us strive to rise from the carnal man to become truly spiritual.

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