Category: Easter

Thoughts for Sunday in Octave of the Ascension

6/1/2014

Suffering for the Faith

“The hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering worship to God” (John, 16:2)

Our Blessed Lord clearly taught that His religion was not easy to practice. He let it be known that anyone who would follow Him must be prepared to bear a cross, and that hatred and scorn would be cast on His disciples by the world. In today's Gospel we hear Him predicting that even death may be the portion of His followers and that those who would inflict this death would consider that they had done a good deed. This prediction has often been verified in the Catholic Church down through the centuries.

Today in many lands these words of Christ are coming true. Those who are faithful to Him are persecuted and sometimes are put to death. The persons who perform these wicked deeds have no idea that they are doing a service to God, because they do not believe in God; but they believe that they are doing a good deed according to their distorted philosophy.

In our land we have not been called on as yet to suffer death for our faith. However, in view of the uncertain state of the world, it is possible that our country may one day behold the sad conditions that are now taking place behind the Iron Curtain. Moreover even now we are sometimes called on to suffer for the sake of our faith. There are persons in our land today who look down on Catholics as if they belonged to an inferior race. They charge Catholics with being ignorant or slavishly obedient to their ecclesiastical superiors. They assert that Catholics cannot be loyal to our country. They sometimes keep Catholics out of posts of honour and authority just because of their faith. Sad to say, there have been some Catholics who, in order to avoid such persecution have renounced their Catholic faith and their membership in the Catholic Church.

We know that it is our duty when persecution of this kind fails to our lot to be loyal to Christ. We may not be cowardly, we must continue to profess our faith fearlessly and openly. In the words of Christ, we must not be scandalised; we must not make the attack of persecutors an occasion of being false to Christ and to His Holy Church.

Practical Application

If you are called on to suffer anything for your faith, remember that Our Lord promised this to His faithful followers. Hence, in the fact that you are persecuted because of your religion you can find a consoling assurance that you are numbered among the beloved disciples of Jesus Christ.

Ascension Thursday

5/29/2014

The Lesson is taken from a Sermon
by St. Leo the Pope

After the blessed and glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (wherein was raised up in three days that true Temple of God which had been destroyed by the ímpiety of Jewry), there came by God's providential ordering a season of forty days, the annual commemoration of which endeth on this day. The original great forty days, dearly beloved, were spent by the Lord in profitable instruction for our benefit. On this wise, his bodily presence was still given to the earth during all these forty days, that our faith in his resurrection might be armed with all needful proofs. For the death of Christ had troubled the hearts of many of his disciples; their thoughts were sad when they remembered his agony upon the cross, his giving up of the Ghost, and the burial in the grave of his lifeless body: and so a sort of hesitation had begun to weigh on them.

Hence the most blessed Apostles and all the disciples who had been fearful concerning the death on the cross, and doubtful of the trustworthiness of the report of Christ's resurrection, were so strengthened by the clear demonstration of the truth, that, when they saw the Lord going up into the heights of heaven, they sorrowed not; nay, they were even filled with great joy. And, in all verity, it was a mighty and unspeakable cause of rejoicing for all the holy multitude of believers, when they perceived that the nature of mankind was thus exalted above all creatures, even the heavenly spirits, so as to pass above the ranks of the Angels, and be raised beyond the heights of the Archangels. For on this wise they perceived that no limit was set upon the uplifting of that nature short of the right hand of the Eternal Father, where it was to be Sharer of his throne, and Partaker of his glory; and nevertheless it was still nothing more than that nature of man, which the Son hath taken upon him.

Therefore, dearly beloved, let us also rejoice with fitting joy. For the Ascension of Christ is exaltation for us. And whither the glory of the Head of the Church is passed in, thither is the hope of the body of the Church called on to follow. Let us rejoice with exceeding great joy, and give God glad thanks. This day is not only the possession of paradise made sure unto us, but in Christ our Head we are actually entering into the heavenly mansions above. Through the unspeakable goodness of Christ we have gained more than ever we lost by the envy of the devil. For those whom our venomous enemy cast down from the happiness of their first estate, those same hath the Son of God made to be of one body with himself, and hath given them a place at the right hand of the Father: with whom he liveth and reigneth, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Fifth Sunday after Easter

5/25/2014

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: Verily, verily, I say unto you: Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name, he will give it you.

Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

We have now to consider these words of the Lord: Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name, he will give it you. It hath already been said in the previous part of this Sunday's discourse (for the benefit of those who ask the Father in Christ's Name and receive not), that whatsoever is asked, which tendeth not to salvation, is not asked in the Name of the Saviour. By the words: In my Name: we must not understand the vocalization of letter and syllables, but the meaning of what is said, the honest and true meaning of the words: In my Name.

Hence, whosoever thinketh that Christ is not the only-begotten Son of God, such an one doth not ask anything in Christ's Name, even though he do actually utter letters and syllables to that effect, because by these sounds he meaneth not the real Christ, but a fancied being who hath no existence except in the speaker's imagination. But on the other hand, whosoever thinketh of Christ as he ought to think, the same asketh in Christ's Name, and receiveth, provided only it be nothing against his own everlasting salvation; but if it be good for him to receive, he receiveth. Some things are not given at once, but kept over till a more fitting season. Such is the true interpretation of the words: He will give it you: namely, that to them that ask, all such things will be given as are good for them. All the saints also are heard when they ask for themselves, but not necessarily when they ask for their friends or their enemies, or others, even as it is written, not simply: He will give it: but rather: He will give it to you.

Hitherto, saith the Lord, have ye asked nothing in my Name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. This their joy, whereof he saith that it shall be full, is to be understood not of fleshly but of spiritual joy; and when that joy is so great that it can be increased no more, then shall it without doubt be full. Therefore, whatsoever is asked which concerneth the fulfilling of this joy (that is, if we thereby aspire to receive God's grace, and so do ask for that life which is the really blessed one), that same is a thing which it is meet to ask in Christ's Name. If we ask anything else than this, we ask nothing (even though we think within ourselves that we are asking for something), because all things are nothing in comparison with this.

Fourth Sunday after Easter

5/18/2014

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: Now I go my way to him that sent me: and none of you asketh me: Whither goest thou?

Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

The Lord Jesus told his disciples what things they should suffer after that he was gone away from them, and then (as John recordeth) he said: These things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you; but now I go my way to him that sent me. The first thing to be noticed here is, whether he had not already told them of their future sufferings. That he had done so amply before the night of the Last Supper, is testified by the other three Evangelists; but according to John, it was when that Supper was ended, that he said: These things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

Are we then to try to loose the knot of this difficulty by asserting that, according to these three Evangelists, it was on the eve of the passion, albeit before the Supper, that he had said these things unto them, and therefore not at the beginning, when he was with them, but when he was about to leave them, and go his way to the Father? And in this way we might reconcile the truthfulness of what this Evangelist saith here: These things I said not unto you at the beginning: with the truthfulness of the other three. But this explanation is rendered impossible by the Gospel according to Matthew, who telleth us how that the Lord spake to his Apostles concerning their sufferings to come, not only when he was on the point of eating the passover with them, but at the very beginning, when the names of the twelve were first given, and they were sent forth to do the work of God.

It would seem then that when he said: These things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you: he meant by These Things, not the sufferings, which they were to bear for his sake, but his promise of the Comforter who should come to them, and testify while they suffered. This Comforter then, or Advocate (for the Greek word Paraclete may be interpreted in both senses), would be needful to them when they saw Christ no more; and therefore it was that Christ spoke not of the Holy Spirit at the beginning while he himself was with his disciples, because his visible presence was then their sufficient Comfort.

Thoughts for the Fourth Sunday after Easter

5/18/2014

The Infallibility of the Church

“When He the Spirit of truth has come, He will teach you all the truth” (John, 16:13)

The words of today's Gospel were spoken to the apostles by Our Blessed Lord on the night before His death. The apostles were saddened and uncertain, and Christ wished to console them by assuring them that in the near future He would send the Holy Ghost to give them light and strength. This promise was fulfilled on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and disciples in the form of tongues of fire, giving them wisdom and courage so that they were enabled to go forth into the streets of Jerusalem to preach the Gospel without fear or hesitation.

This promise of Our Blessed Saviour was directed to the apostles as the official teachers of His Church; hence, it was intended also for their successors in this office, the Bishops of the Catholic Church and, in the first place, the Pope. In these words of the Son of God we find confirmation of the doctrine of our Holy Faith which asserts that the Holy Ghost will protect these teachers from error in their task of communicating Christ's message to the souls of men even to the end of time.

To many non-Catholics the claim of the Church to infallibility seems preposterous. But it should appear most reasonable to anyone who admits that Jesus Christ is true God, able to watch over the teaching office of His representatives and empowered to send the third person of the Holy Trinity to protect these teachers from leading the faithful astray by error.

For this reason Catholics believe that their Church is infallible. The prerogative of infallibility is possessed by the Bishops when they assemble in council with the Pope, and also when, under his jurisdiction and approval, they agree in teaching some doctrine of faith or morals in their respective dioceses. Above all, infallibility belongs to the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra that is, when, as head of the entire Church, using the fullness of his teaching power, he defines a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by all the faithful. When Catholics receive a doctrine taught in this manner by the official teachers of their Church they know that it has come to them under the protecting power of the Holy Ghost and is infallibly true.

Practical Application

Thank God that when you make an act of faith in the doctrines taught by the Catholic Church you have absolute assurance that God Himself has protected those who announced it from error. Often make acts of faith in the teachings of the Church.

Third Sunday after Easter

5/11/2014

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: A little while and ye shall not see me: and again a little while, and ye shall see me; because I go to the Father.

Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

This Little While is the whole duration of this present world. In the same sense this same Evangelist saith in his Epistle: It is the last time. The words: Because I go to the Father: refer to the first clause of the text, thus: A little while and ye shall not see me, because I go to the Father. Hence we should not connect them with this latter clause: And again a little while, and ye shall see me. For his going to the Father was about to bring to pass this, namely, that they should see him no more. And on this account he is not to be understood as saying that he was about to die, and that, until he should rise again, he would be withdrawn from their sight; but rather, that he was going to the Father; which same he did when (after he had risen, and had manifested himself to them for forty days), he ascended up into heaven.

It was therefore to them which were then looking on him in the flesh that he said: A little while, and ye shall not see me. A little while, and they would no longer see him as mortal man, such as they saw him to be whilst thus speaking, because he was about to go to the Father. But he added: And again a little while, and ye shall see me: and these words are a promise to the Universal Church, just as are those others: Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Our Lord delayeth not his promised coming. Yea, again a little while, and we shall se him. Yea, and when we thus shall see him, then shall we ask for nothing more; for no desire will be unsatisfied, and no riddle unsolved.

This Little While seemeth a very long while to us now, while as yet it is still going on, but when it is ended, we shall realize what a little while it was. Let not our joy, then, be like that of the world, whereof it is said: The world shall rejoice. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, and yet, while, as hitherto, our gladness is still coming to the birth through throes of sorrow, let us not be altogther sorrowful, but as the Apostle hath it: Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation. A woman, when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And so will it be with us. And with that let me end my sermon. For the next passage is one of extreme difficulty; nor is it possible to treat it briefly, if, by the will of God, it is to be treated satisfactorily.

Thoughts for 3rd Sunday after Easter

5/11/2014

“Your joy no man shall take from you” (John, 16:22)

Some persons have the idea that religion is intended to be a gloomy affair. This may be true of some forms of religion; but it is not true of the Catholic religion.

Our Lord established a religion of joy and happiness, as is indicated by His statement to His apostles related in today's Gospel, “Your joy no man shall take from you.”

In the history of the Catholic Church this is abundantly illustrated, especially in the lives of the saints. The saints were men and women who were most happy and joyful, even though they had much suffering to endure and often practised the most severe penances.

The reasons for our happiness as Catholics are many.
1. In the first place, we have the assurance that we are in possession of the one true religion.
2. We know that in the teachings of our faith we have the satisfactory solution to the problems of life.
3. We are aware that we can obtain by prayer all that we need to lead a good life, so that temptation can never rob us of the friendship of God if we seek strength in fervent prayer.
4. And if we are in the state of sanctifying grace, as every good Catholic should be, we know that God loves us with an infinite love as adopted children, and that He is watching over us so that nothing may harm us.

This does not mean that we are assured that because of our Catholic faith we shall be free from all trials and sufferings. Sometimes it is the will of God that those who are very dear to Him shall be called on to endure poverty, sickness, the loss of reputation, and antagonism from their fellow-men. But these tribulations will not diminish our joy if we accept them in the spirit of conformity to God's Will and with the realisation that they will contribute much toward our eternal happiness.

Above all, as Catholics we have the joy of knowing that after this brief life we shall be admitted to the happiness of heaven provided we are faithful to our Divine Lord. This is the meaning of the words He spoke to His apostles and in them to all His loyal followers, “I shall see you again.”

Practical Application

Rid yourself of the unfortunate habit of anxiety and fear, and try to taste the true joy of those who love God. If you live up to your Catholic faith you will experience a peace of soul and happiness far greater than anything on earth can provide, and this joy “no man shall take from you.”

Good Shepherd Sunday (2nd after Easter)

5/4/2014

At that time: Jesus said unto the Pharisees: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Sermon by St. Gregory the Pope

Dearly beloved, ye have heard from the Holy Gospel what is at once your instruction, and our danger. For behold what Christ saith concerning goodness! He himself is good, not from any gift of nature bestowed upon him, but by the very essence of his being, and he saith: I am the Good Shepherd. And then he saith what is the character of his goodness, even of that goodness of his which we must strive to copy: The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. As he had foretold, even so did he; what he had commanded, that he exemplified. The Good Shepherd gave his life for the sheep, and made his own body and his own blood to be our Sacramental Food, pasturing upon his own Flesh the sheep whom he had bought.

He, by despising death, hath shewn us how to do the like; he hath set before us the mould wherein it behoveth us to be cast. Our first duty is, freely and tenderly to spend our outward things for his sheep, but lastly, if need be, to serve the same by our death also. From the light offering of the first, we go on to the stern offering of the last; and, if we be ready to give our life for the sheep, why should we scruple to give our substance, seeing how much more is the life than meat?

And some there be which love the things of this world better than they love the sheep. All such as they no longer deserve to be called shepherds. For these are they of whom it is written: But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. Such an one as this is not a shepherd but an hireling, which feedeth the Lord's sheep, not because he loveth their souls, but because he obtaineth earthly gain thereby. He that taketh upon himself a shepherd's place, but seeketh not gain of souls, that same is but an hireling; such an one is ever ready for creature-comforts, he loveth his pre-eminence, he groweth sleek upon his income, and he liketh well to see men bow down to him.

Low Sunday (Quasimodo Sunday)

4/27/2014

At that time: The same day at evening, being the First Day of the week: When the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews: Came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them: Peace be unto you.

Sermon by St. Gregory the Pope

The first question to strike the mind when we hear this Gospel Lesson is: How was it that the body of the risen Lord was a real body, if it was able to pass through closed doors into the assembly of the disciples. But we ought to know that the works of God no longer seem wonderful when they are understood by man's reason, and that the worth of faith is lost as soon as the object of faith hath passed into the certainty of human demonstration. Nevertheless, those very works of our Redeemer which are in themselves impossible to be understood, must be thought over in connection with other of his works; so that wonderful things may be confirmed by things more wonderful still. The body of the Lord, which came into the assembly of the disciples through closed doors, was the same which, at its birth, had become manifest to the eyes of men in a wondrous way, by passing out of the cloister of the Virgin's womb without breaking the seal of her virginity. What wonder is it if that body which had come out of the Virgin's womb, without let to her virginity, albeit it was then a body on its way to die, now that it was risen again from the dead and was thereby instinct for ever with undying life (what wonder is it, I say), if that body passed through closed doors?

But since the beholders doubted of the reality of that body which they saw, he shewed unto them his hands and his side, and allowed them to handle that same flesh which had just passed through the closed doors. In this there were two strange things manifested, yea, things which according to our understanding are contrary the one to the other. His risen body was incorruptible and yet palpable. For whatever can be touched, must needs be subject to corruption; and whatever is not subject to corruption, cannot be touched. But, in a way altogether wonderful and incomprehensible, our Redeemer after his Resurrection revealed himself in a body at once palpable and incorruptible. Yea, he revealed himself in an incorruptible body, that we might learn to seek a like glorification; and in a palpable body, for the strengthening of our faith. He revealed himself in a body at once incorruptible and palpable, that he might thereby make manifest the fact that his risen body was unaltered in nature, albeit transfigured in glory.

Then said Jesus unto them again : Peace be unto you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. That is, As my Father, who is God, hath sent me, who am God, even so do I, who am Man, send you, who are men. The Father sent the Son, whom he appointed to be made man for the redemption of man. Him he willed to send into the world to suffer, albeit this Jesus whom he sent to suffer was the Son whom he loved. And the Lord Jesus sendeth his chosen Apostles into the world, not to be happy in the world, but, as he had been himself sent, to suffer. As the Father loveth the Son and yet sendeth him to suffer, even so doth the Lord love his disciples, albeit he sendeth them unto the world, to suffer therein. And therefore it is well said: As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. That is, Even though I send you into the wild storm of persecution, I do love you all the same; yea, I not only do have a love for you; but I love you with a love like unto that wherewith the Father loveth me, who sent me into the world to bear agony therein.

Easter Saturday

4/26/2014

At that time: On the First Day of the week, cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre.

Sermon by St. Gregory the Pope

Dearly beloved brethren, the portion of the Holy Gospel which hath just now been read in your ears, is exceeding simple on the face of it, which is its historical sense; but the mystic sense, which underlieth that other, requireth from us a little searching. Mary Magdalene came unto the Sepulchre when it was yet dark. The historic sense telleth us what was the hour of the day; the mystic sense, the state of her understanding who sought. Mary Magdalene sought for him, by whom all things were made, and whom she had seen die, as concerning the flesh; she sought for him, I say, in the grave, and finding him not, she believed that he had been stolen away. Yea, it was yet dark, when she came unto the sepulchre. Then she ran and told the disciples, but they who had loved him most, namely Peter and John, did outrun the others.

So they ran both together, but John did outrun Peter, and came first to the Sepulchre, but yet took he not upon himself to go in first. Then cometh Peter following him, and went in. What, my brethren, what did the racing of these Apostles signify? Can we believe that the description given by the deepest of the Evangelists is without a mystic interpretation? By no means. John had never told how that he did outrun Peter, and yet went not into the Sepulchre, if he had not believed that his hesitation veiled some mystery. What signifieth John but the Synagogue? or Peter, but the Church?

Neither must ye take it as strange that the elder Apostle should represent the Church, and younger the Synagogue: for although the Synagogue was first to worship God, yet the herd of Gentiles is in the world older than the Synagogue, as witnesseth Paul where he saith: That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural. By Peter, then, who was the elder, is signified the Church of the Gentiles; and by John, who was the younger, the Synagogue of the Jews. They run both of them together, for from the time of her birth until now (and so will it be until the end), the Church of the Gentiles hath run in a parallel road and manywise a common road with the Synagogue, albeit not with equal understandings. The Synagogue came first to the Sepulchre, but she hath not yet entered in; for, though she hath received the commandments of the law, and hath heard the Prophets tell of the Incarnation and Passion of the Lord, she will not believe in him who died for her.

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