Sunday Sermon

Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Jesus. But they would soon be surprised to find that the stone had been rolled away. And this scared them, quite frankly.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we get scared. We especially get scared of the unknown. And yet we know that when we are afraid we should stand with Christ.

Our Lord did not call His disciples by a multimedia presentation and an in-depth business pitch. He went far, far beyond this. Our Lord both called His disciples and summed up the life of discipleship with just two words: Follow Me.

We hear in today's Gospel our Lord calling the Apostle Philip with those same words: Follow Me. He also says them to us. In those words we find not only an invitation to a deeper spiritual experience and journey this Lent, but we also find the very essence of the journey itself - that we do, and must, every day follow the Lord.

Hear today of our Lord's call to Philip and to all of us.

“Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus.” St. Mark 16: 1.

How strange that no one but these three pious women resolved to show the last honors to our dead Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to anoint His sacred Body in the sepulcher. And yet there must have been many people in the city of Jerusalem on whom our Lord had conferred great benefits during His life. Did none of them go to the sepulcher? No; they had already forgotten His benefits; My words to day will be directed against ingratitude, of which most men are guilty toward God

Let me ask you a question? Is there an area in your life that has not been surrender to His will? When will you stop rebelling against God? How many times will you rebel before God says that's enough...no more....that was your last chance.

We find ourselves entering into the holiest week of the year . . . Holy Week . . . which begins with Palm Sunday. During Holy Week we witness a vast array of emotions ranging from sorrow and sadness. We witness rage and anger. We see both love and hatred coming from the crowds surrounding Our Blessed Saviour. And additionally before the week is over we are witness to amazement, disbelief and wonder at the rising from the dead of Our Blessed Saviour. But one emotion we are also witness to is "regret."

"All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient." With these words Saint Paul helps us as we prepare for the coming Lent.

It is not what we have, but what we do with what we have that is indicative of our place along the path of our spiritual life.

We hear in the parable of the Prodigal Son how a squandered inheritance leads to dissolution - but an awakening helps cast off the chains of slavery to the things of this world.

“Behold, thy King cometh to thee, meek.”— Matthew 21:5.

My dear Christians, as we have just learned from today’s Gospel, the Saviour celebrates today His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

In the New Testament there are mentioned three kind of works. We have good works, evil works, and dead works. Good works are works that please God; evil works are works which are mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21, also known as the works of the flesh. What are dead works then?

Dead works are works that appear good externally but that spring from a corrupt motive or done for the wrong reason. Therefore they are like filthy rags in God's eyes.

We need to be persistent as faithful Christians. We need to be persistent . . . in our prayers . . . . in our faithfulness . . . in our character and morals. We need to be persistent with the way we live our lives as faithful Christians. The problem with us is that we want everything done right away. We want things done "five minutes ago." As humans, we are inpatient. And yet not everything is worked out right away. So often in real life problems are not fixed and taken care of in a half-hour or hour. And we are called to be like the Canaanite Woman and be persistent in our faithfulness.

To drink more than one’s health or income or reputation can bear, is folly, wickedness, and a shame! And yet it is an ordinary consequence of excessive drinking. Important as this consideration is, it would not matter much if the salvation of the soul and the law of God were not concerned also. For the worst of all the evil consequences of excessive drinking, which should be most effective to deter Christians from that vice, is, that most people drink more than is consistent with the salvation of their souls. But here some may be inclined to say, like our Lord in to-day’s Gospel, “which of you shall convince me of sin”? What nonsense to say that it is a sin to drink a drop too much now and then! So common has this vice become that it is no longer looked upon as sinful. My object now is to show how false and wrong that idea is.