Sunday Sermon

Jesus was eating in the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath. He watched as these proud men picked out the places of honor for themselves at the table. Then He delivered a pointed message about humility, which must have humiliated the guests (14:7-11). Finally, as if the tension were not great enough already, the Lord told the host that he had invited the wrong guests! He said, “You should have invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind instead of all these friends, relatives, and rich neighbors who can return the favor” (14:12-14)! At this point you could have sliced the atmosphere with a knife!...

Those who find fault are friendly to the face of others, but fond of prying into the lives of others; without sufficient grounds they respect and condemn their neighbor. They are fond of speaking of the faults and failings of others, and therefore, by thus interfering with the affairs of others, they act against themselves and the love of God.

This time of year we honor those unsung heroes who have obtained eternal happiness by quietly doing their duty to God and man here on earth. We do not know many of their names, because they silently went about doing good. Let us consider and imitate their virtues. What sets them apart from the rest of men and women?

In this day of chaos, we must understand that Christ the King is in the midst of it all. He is in control. So in all of the turmoil around us, let us focus on becoming a holy and acceptable people worthy of our Lord.

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!

“From the days of John the Baptist until now,” says our Lord, “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away,” and so, I undertake to prove that an easy and luxurious life is not the way to heaven.

Many of us find ourselves dismissing as nothing things that are mortal sins. We treat mortals sins as mere trifles. We tend to draw a line between venial and mortal sin in the wrong place.

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.

Hear today about 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!"

God wants us to get some things settled in our heart. One of the most crucial is deciding whether we are all-in when it comes to our relationship with Him. Do we want to walk in the fullness of His love and His plans? Or, do we want to spend our lives chasing after the world’s empty pleasures?

Saint Therese of Lisieux had a simple rule that all of us should take to heart. "Almighty God, All Thee and no me."

After the light of the Holy Ghost has been implored by fervent prayer, the next requisite for a good confession is the examenation of conscience, or the effort to find out what sins we have committed. As many confessions are not made properly because of a lack of this requisite, remember, my brethren,

1.That he who wishes to make a good confession must examine his conscience himself.

2. That he who wishes to make a good confession must examine his conscience with proper diligence and care.