Sunday Sermon

Our Lord instructs all those who would follow Him, and He does so in diverse ways. When we hear the Gospel proclaimed, we hear instruction. When we pray in the silence of our hearts, there, too, is instruction.

In the Gospel of Saint Luke, we hear about a miraculous draught of fishes and we learn the importance of the blessing and command of God in the work which we do. We can also learn the relation of private instruction and revelation to that which is public by what the Evangelist was inspired not to say. Come along and let us all follow the Lord!

“He blasphemeth.” St. Matthew 9: 3

On other occasions, influenced by hatred and envy, the Jews had called him a disturber of the people, a drunkard, a sorcerer who drove out devils in the name of the devil, but all these accusations were as nothing compared to that of being a blasphemer—that is, one who assails the Almighty, who is worthy of infinite honor and glory, with curses and injurious expressions. I will take occasion from the Gospel of today to speak of this fearful sin, which is so common unfortunately, in order to inspire you with such a horror of this crime that you will be shocked at the very name of it.

Are we wasting our Lord's goods? We come to an attitude that this is my money, because I work so hard for it. But is it our money, or does it truly belong to another?

Our God is not some distant far-off, uncaring God Who could care less about how we feel . . . what we are going through . . . what we are enduring. Our God is a God full of compassion.

Our Lord tells us: "Behold! I stand at the door and knock!" Likewise, we are to be like our Lord, for He tells us: "Knock and it shall be opened unto you."

In seeking after the things of our Lord, we must never allow ourselves to become the victims of despondency, impatience, or even of injuries to our own pride. Rather, we must be ever more faithful and - above all - persistent in seeking those things which are good.

Let us take the Gospel's example of the Canaanite woman whose love for her daughter and whose faith in the Lord leads her to a holy persistence, even in the face of resistance and humiliation. Let us make her prayer our own: "Lord, help me!"

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” So let me ask you this morning — are you a good neighbor? — What if he meant for us to love the actual neighbors that live 30 to 40 feet from us?

This is the great law of Charity: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor;” these words teach us whom we are to love. “As thyself;” how and in what manner we are to love. This law, though well known by all, is understood by very few; for most people show by their conduct that they know little of what is meant by that law. There are many nowadays who ask with the lawyer: “And who is my neighbor?” So rare is the true love of one’s neighbor that people neither know nor care to know who their neighbor is; still less do they know what it means to love him as themselves. Since so much depends on the fulfillment of this law that without it it is impossible to love God, I shall endeavor to explain it today:

The most frequently used image of God and his people in the New Testament is the family relationship. Sometimes we are pictured as being “born again” into this family. Other times, we are pictured as being adopted into God’s family. And this image of the family is used to stress the close relationship we have with God, who is our Father, with the blessed Virgin Mary our mother and our close relationship with one another, as brothers and sisters in this family

We have heard about the Four H's of the spiritual life: Honesty, Humility, Help, and Hope.

Today we begin to learn about a "Fifth H": Heart.

A sure way to learn how to cultivate this "Fifth H" is to have recourse to the Blessed Theotokos, who so loved her Divine Son and who has been given to us by Him as a mother in grace. Let us hasten to have our hard hearts softened that they may be refashioned in the grace of God!

Dear Lord, I desire perfect charity. Please help me to fulfill my desire by the help of Thy grace, which I stand in need of. Remove from me all the obstacles I have placed between Thee and me. Help me to acquire all of the holy dispositions I need to come into complete union with Thy most holy will.