THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

10 November 2024

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends in Christ,

We are instructed in today's Gospel reading (St. Matthew 8:24-30) to bear patiently with the evils of this world. Sinful or evil people may change if they are not robbed of the opportunity by over-zealous Christians. We do not always understand God's Will, but great spiritual and philosophical minds have studied the concept of evil for a long time.

Many who oppose God argue that the fact of evil in this world is proof that either God does not exist or that He is indifferent or even impotent against evil. God is not the source of evil. Evil is the result of sin — the bad use of human free will. Sin is the absence of virtue or goodness that should be within us but is not. God's love for us is so great that He respects our right to choose. He does not force His Will upon us. It is God's Will that we choose what is right and good, but His love for us allows us to reject Him and that which is good.

God both permitted wheat and tares because He loves us. God's love for us makes good come from evil. The human tares may convert and become wheat when they cooperate with God's grace. The wheat may be perfected by the challenges of the tares growing right next to them. If true Christians can continue uninfected with the evils of the world, the devils, and fallen nature, they will find that there are many all around them who are not so blessed. This is a great cross for them. "Love is not loved." But often, the cross gets much heavier as the tares overwhelm the wheat, not only competing but undermining and seeking to destroy.

It is easy to love friends, but the true test of charity is to love enemies and to truly desire the best for those who hate, curse, or persecute us. We are called upon to be patient with their insults and abuses, constantly seeking their conversion with meek and humble patience. Our fellow humans are often our heaviest crosses, and Jesus calls upon us to embrace the cross. The hardship is to be humbly and meekly embraced, not the errors, temptations, or sins. The person and his soul are to be loved and born with meekness and humility, but the sin is to be rejected and shunned. This patience, this understanding, is what brings us calm and reassurance in the face of evil.

Too often, we buy into the concept of equality to the extent that we are tempted to give "rights" to evil or sin. Sin has no rights. People have the freedom to choose and may choose to sin, but sin has no rights or privileges. We use the term "free," but nothing is free. If we choose to turn away from God and grace, we turn to sin, darkness, and vice — Hell. If we reject temptation and sin and choose grace and virtue, we turn away from demons and Hell and turn to God and Heaven. This power of choice, this responsibility, is what empowers us and makes us accountable in the face of evil.

Evil exists so that we can freely choose that which is good. If there were no possibility of sin, then there could be no choice; without choice, there is no human free will; without human free will, there can be no real love. Saint John tells us that "God is Love." We are further instructed that God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son to suffer and die upon the cross for us. And there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for the brethren. Jesus crucified is the greatest testimony of God's love for us. If we love God, we are called upon to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus. Love is seen, expressed, and experienced in sacrifice. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the love.

The tares are expedient for us in this life that we may have daily occasions to deny ourselves and take up our crosses — that is to love. Jesus instructs us that scandal is necessary, but woe to the man who scandalizes one of His Little Ones (St. Matthew 18:7). Far from hating and seeking to rid ourselves of such miserable people that have merited the "woe" from Jesus, Jesus calls upon us to pray for their conversion and repentance — to love them enough to humbly and meekly admonish and correct them. We must be patient with everyone. The time will come when everyone receives his just reward. The good will be rewarded with eternal life, and the evil will be rewarded with eternal death. We must not anticipate the Judgments of God but patiently await the reapers (angels) at the time of harvest. They will then infallibly separate the tares from the wheat.

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