Homily for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost

Given on the 23rd of October, Anno Domini 2005
by Father Louis J. Campbell
"Qui legit, intelligat"
"He who readeth, let him understand"

THE CALM AFTER THE STORM

With all the storms raging against body and soul these days, these are truly times of fear and trepidation for those who do not have the faith to trust totally in Jesus Christ and His promises of healing and comfort. To those who believe all He imparted it is the silver lining that spurs them on to hope in everlasting life.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The news has been anything but good lately. Political and economic chaos are on the horizon. With Katrina, Rita, and now Wilma, hurricanes seem to target this country more than any other. Drought and famine are the scourge of Africa, but they could spread dramatically if the world climate continues to change. Terrible earthquakes are occurring in many places, and such plagues as the Avian flu, whether of natural causes or concocted in someone's laboratory, are a constant threat. Scientific studies seem to indicate that things are only going to get worse, perhaps much worse.

As "the nations rage and the peoples utter folly" (Psalm 2:1), do we have any reason for hope? Should we be bewildered and fearful? Or does our dark cloud have a silver lining somewhere? Well, it does, of course, if we look at things from God's point of view. None of these things are news for the Christian. We have the word of God to tell us that these things are signs - signs of the approach of the Kingdom of God, and of the King of Kings Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus told us to look for these things to happen, as Blessed Apostle Saint Matthew records in His Gospel:

"Take care that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. For you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Take care that you do not be alarmed, for these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be pestilences and famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginnings of sorrows.
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and will put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will fall away, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray. And because iniquity will abound, the charity of the many will grow cold. But whoever perseveres to the end, he shall be saved" (Blessed Apostle Saint Matthew 24:4-13).

The power of the devil and his evil associates is at work in the world. But there is a greater power at work - the power of God, driving out the devil, and establishing the Kingdom of God.   Jesus Christ, Who promised to send us "power from on high," the Holy Spirit (Blessed Apostle Saint Luke 24:49), shall reign as King. We see Him already at work in the Gospel of today's Mass (Blessed Apostle Saint Matthew 9:18-26). A father mourns for his child, a little girl of twelve who has just died. The professional mourners are already wailing and making their din when Jesus arrives and raises the child to life.

A woman suffering for twelve years from a crippling infirmity touches the hem of Our Lord's garment, and is immediately healed. Jesus knows that someone has touched Him, and says, as recorded in the Gospel of Blessed Apostle Saint Luke, "Someone touched Me; for I perceived that power had gone forth from Me" (Blessed Apostle Saint Luke 8:46). This was a common occurrence, says Blessed Apostle Saint Luke: "And all the crowd were trying to touch Him, for power went forth from Him and healed all" (Blessed Apostle Saint Luke 6:19).

Who is at work in the forces of nature? He who walked on the water and commanded the stormy sea: "The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over vast waters. The voice of the Lord is mighty; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon leap like a calf and Sarion like a young wild bull. The voice of the Lord strikes fiery flames; the voice of the Lord shakes the desert, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Cades. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests, and in his temple all say, 'Glory!'" (Psalm 28:3-9).

The powers of this world must fall before the Power of God: "Take warning, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before him; with trembling pay homage to him, lest he be angry and you perish from the way, when his anger blazes suddenly" (Psalm 2:10-12).

Who then, on this earth are the truly powerful? Those who pray with humility and perseverance! The humble Blessed Virgin Mary, states it in her Magnificat: "He has shown might with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly" (Blessed Apostle Saint Luke 1:51,52).

The Lord hears the prayers of the humble and the contrite: a suffering woman: "If I touch but His cloak I shall be saved" (Blessed Apostle Saint Matthew 9:21); a trusting ruler: "My daughter has just now died; but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she will return to life" (Blessed Apostle Saint Matthew 9:18); a blind beggar: "Lord, that I may see" (Blessed Apostle Saint Luke 18:41). "For the Son of man has come to seek and to save what was lost" (Blessed Apostle Saint Luke 19:10).

Such humble and persevering prayer is essential for those who hope to be saved. Saint Alphonsus Liguori comments: "But this grace is not given in God's ordinary Providence, except to those who pray for it; according to the celebrated saying of Gennadius, 'We believe that no one approaches to be saved, except at the invitation of God; that no one who is invited works out his salvation, except by the help of God; that no one merits this help, unless he prays.' From these two premises, on the one hand, that we can do nothing without the assistance of grace; and on the other, that this assistance is only given ordinarily by God to the man that prays, who does not see that the consequence follows, that prayer is absolutely necessary to us for salvation?" (On the Necessity of Prayer).

The storm is now, the calm of the reign of Christ the King will follow for those who trust in God and pray with perseverance. Let ours be the prayer of the psalmist, King David: "One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate His temple. For He will hide me in his abode in the day of trouble; He will conceal me in the shelter of His tent, He will set me high upon a rock. Even now my head is held high above my enemies on every side. And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of gladness; I will sing and chant praise to the Lord" (Psalm 26:4-6).

These words of Saint Teresa of Avila were found written on the wall of her cell after her death:

Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee; All things pass; God never changes. Patience attains all that it strives for. He who has God finds he lacks nothing; God alone suffices. †

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Pope and Patriarch

Our Pope has gone to visit Patriarch Bartholomew in Constantinople, and was present today for a Divine Liturgy, where the Ecumenical Patriarch gave a very good homily:

...Therefore, we kneel in humility and repentance before the living God and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious Name we bear and yet at the same time whose seamless garment we have divided. We confess in sorrow that we are not yet able to celebrate the holy sacraments in unity. And we pray that the day may come when this sacramental unity will be realized in its fullness.

...Indeed, as St. John Chrysostom himself affirms: "Those in heaven and those on earth form a single festival, a shared thanksgiving, one choir" (PG 56.97). Heaven and earth offer one prayer, one feast, one doxology. The Divine Liturgy is at once the heavenly kingdom and our home, "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev. 21.1), the ground and center where all things find their true meaning.

...The only appropriate response to this showering of divine benefits and compassionate mercy is gratitude (eucharistia). Indeed, thanksgiving and glory are the only fitting response of human beings to their Creator. For to Him belong all glory, honor, and worship: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; now and always, and to the ages of ages.

Merry Christmas

A merry (and blessed) Christmas to You

from The Prologue from Ohrid

HOMILY
on the birth of the Lord, the Son of God

I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world (John 16:28).

The only-begotten Son of God, brethren, begotten in eternity of the Father without a mother, was born in time of a mother without a father. That first begetting is an unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity in eternity, and the second is the unfathomable mystery of God's power and love for mankind in time. The greatest mystery in time corresponds to the greatest mystery in eternity. Without entering into this greatest mystery with the small taper of our understanding, let us be content, brethren, with the knowledge that our salvation had its origin not from man or from earth, but from the greatest heights of the divine invisible world. So great is God's mercy, and so great is the dignity of man, that the Son of God Himself came down from eternity into time, from heaven to earth, from the throne of glory to the shepherd's cave, solely to save mankind, to cleanse men from sin and to return them to Paradise. I came forth from the Father, where I had everything, and am come into the world, which cannot give Me anything. The Lord was born in a cave to show that the whole world is one dark cave, which He alone can illumine. The Lord was born in Bethlehem -- and Bethlehem means "the House of Bread" -- to show that He is the only Bread of Life worthy of true men.

O Lord Jesus, the Pre-eternal Son of the Living God and the Son of the Virgin Mary, enlighten us and nourish us with Thyself.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.