THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

27 July 2025

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends in Christ,

Jesus warns us to beware of false prophets. These are people who put on the outer garment of Christianity, but not the inner garment of faith. Sincerity and truth are evident when our thoughts, words, and actions are in alignment. When there is a disparity between our thoughts, words, and actions, we are hypocritical. The fruits of hypocrisy are lies and deceit.

It is said that we cannot be deceived unless we first deceive ourselves. In this light, we need first to observe and take account of our own spirits. If the truth is within us, then we can correctly discern the truth outside of ourselves. While it is true that evil trees only produce evil fruit and good trees only produce good fruit, we must understand that the evil tree does not have to remain evil; it can become good. Similarly, the good tree is not secure because it is good, as it may still become evil. Bad trees may be grafted with good stock and thus become good. The good graft may also be cut off and lost.

The works of evil men are bad, but they may still be useful in God's plan. He can make good come from evil. For example, sinful acts, abusing the gift of human reproduction, can and often do result in the gift of life. The child that results from such actions is good, though the circumstances of the "parents'" actions were evil. Life is good, and comes from God, and is not an evil fruit. The evil fruit is borne out in the words and actions of evil people. The evil is principally in the will of men, and its fruit is in the words and actions that follow the evil will. In the example above, the selfish will of "parents" is the evil, the fruit is the physical words and actions that this produces. Selfishness makes bad parents. Children need parents who are selfless and willingly sacrifice themselves, both physically and spiritually, for their children.

Broken unions, shattered families, divorce, unmarried or adulterous "parents" are all evil fruits, even though God can and often does draw some good from them. Unregulated or dysregulated families produce dysregulated children, which in turn dysregulate schools, work, society, and even the Church. Those who preach and live as if all this is good are false prophets that we must be aware of.

These false prophets often point to the good that God has done (in making good come from their evils) and usurp that goodness as if it came from themselves. Or to present God's blessings as if they are rewards for their evil lives. They would have us believe that fornication and adultery are not evil because God has given life to children conceived in these sins.

The false prophets want us to believe that: disorder and chaos are order, lies are truth, unnatural is natural, sin is virtue, and that lust is love. We are warned not to believe them or trust them. Love and truth are not selfish or lustful. Love and truth are selfless and even self-sacrificing. What we say and how we say it are indicative of the spirit that is hidden within. What we do and how we do it are indicative of the spirit that is hidden within.

When the love of God is truly within us, our words and actions conform to this love. In loving God first and foremost, we naturally come to love ourselves and our neighbors as ourselves, because we are made in His Image and Likeness.

Hateful or venomous words and actions are evil, and we naturally recoil from them. These are easily seen and avoided. When, hypocritically, there is venom in sweet words and actions, we are bad trees, and despite the appearance of goodness, these are evil fruits. And when we try to justify these evil fruits, we become false prophets.

When truth and love are within us, we discern the hypocrisy of the artificial sweeteners in others, which is meant to deceive us. The real danger to us is in ourselves. We fall prey to false teachers because we have first sought to deceive ourselves. We must beware of trying to hide evil within us under the outward appearances of good. The tool God has given us to combat this evil from within and from without is found in the Sacraments — especially in the Sacrament of Penance, where we closely examine ourselves and reveal the actual inner workings of our souls to God's anointed and appointed priest. Through the Sacraments, we ingraft the good stock from God and prune away the bad stock of our sins, becoming good trees bearing good fruit.

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