Epistle
Taken from the letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians
Eph 4:1-6
Brethren: I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and throughout all, and in us all, Who is blessed forever and ever. Amen.
Continuation ✠ of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew
Matt 22:34-46
At that time, the Pharisees came to Jesus and one of them, a doctor of the Law, putting Him to the test, asked Him, Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus questioned them, saying, What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is He? They said to Him, David’s. He said to them, How then does David in the spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ If David, therefore, calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son? And no one could answer Him a word; neither did anyone dare from that day forth to ask Him any more questions.
Homily for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost.
Today we read one of the most significant and beautiful sequences of the Gospel. One that is the basis for everything that we do in our life as Catholics. Our Lord answers the question:
Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?
And we all might agree, that the answer seems quite obvious in our day, 2000 years after our Lord’s preaching. One would think that no one would question or doubt this truth. But yet, this is a greatly forgotten question.
Which is the greatest commandment?
The answer of our Lord is simple: “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.”
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Of these two, depends all the law. And this is true, even if you look at the Ten Commandments; you will remember that they were written by God upon two tablets of stone. On the first one were the commandments referring to God, on the second one those referring to our neighbor.
And this was to signify, that truly there were two great commandments, as the two tablets, where all the other commandments were contained.
But my friends, do we remember this?
It seems that in our day, the devil has deceived Christianity in a very clever way. It has made everyone focus on the second commandment but forget about the first.
And indeed, what else is the error of Vatican II?
One of the characteristic falsehoods that came from that, was the idea of trying to please “our separated brethren” of trying to yield to their demands.
For the sake of unity with man, the modernists were willing to abandon the worship and love of God.
And for a false love of men, they destroyed the Mass, to make it more pleasing to protestants.
For a false love of men, they refused to condemn evil doctrines and teachings.
For a false love of men, they refused to contradict them, to convince them of their errors, to argue in favor of God’s revelation.
For the false love of men, we see Francis, John Paul II, Benedict, and countless others, trample upon Christ and God’s revelation, by putting God on the same line, on the same altar than devils, by putting Christ alongside Buda, Mohamed, or even Vishnu.
They have forgotten the first commandment, and pretend to keep the second, but in fact, they keep neither of them.
And my friends, do we not see this affect us as well?
How often do we see a person, and we might say: “He is a really good person” even though he never worships God?
We think, “He doesn’t steal, he doesn’t cheat, he doesn’t curse, he has one wife, he is a Patriot…” but he doesn’t care about religion.
Can we truly say that he is a good person? Or is he not rather a wicked one, who forsakes the duties to whom he owed the most, that is, to God?
Because what good is it, if he is materially good, but he is utterly ungrateful, impious, indifferent towards God, who made him, who keeps him, who loves him to the point of giving his life for Him… How can we say that he is not evil, who does these things?
So let us not fall for that trap. The first commandment is the most important. And even if all the other commandments towards our neighbor are kept, it profits nothing, if we neglect to keep the first and most important one.
Today society insists, in a manner that is sickening because of the hypocrisy that it carries with it, about caring for the people around you.
They frown upon you, and judge you, and are imposing terrible burdens upon everyone, with the pretext of having you care for your neighbor.
And these are the same people who do not care about the murder of millions of innocent babies, the same people who do not care about terrible injustice committed.
Are they ever going to come and tell us, that we should love our God? Will they also help us in that regard? Will we see them demand from us that we worship God on Sundays, that we pray that we refrain from sin?
If they don’t, if they do not care about the first commandment, the most important of all, where are they standing? On whose side are they at?
But my friends, enough of such things. We know what we must not do. Now, let us look at what we should do.
What is your life as a Catholic? Love.
What is it that truly matters in your Christian Life? Love.
Does it matter if you get sick, if you get poor, if you are suffering if you were to die, as hard as it might be on you… what will really matter at the end of your life? The only thing that matters to you, is to love God.
With all your heart: with all your affections and feelings. Any feeling of sadness, fear, passion, attachment, desire for pleasures, any affection should be subordinated to your love for God.
With all your soul: in such a way that in your memory, God is a constant thought, in your will, God, and the things of God are your constant desire, everything in your life, your main concern and priority is God, and only God, and everything else through God.
With all your mind: In such a way that all your thoughts are consecrated. That no music goes into your mind which is displeasing to God. That no movies or shows go into your mind that are displeasing to God. That no thought or memory, or reflection is permitted by you to dwell in that sacred sanctuary, which is your human mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
And there is a marvelous advantage, that we get, from practicing this.
This is our bubble. Let the world turn, let the antichrist come, let all sorts of evils befall us, we cannot avoid them. It is written that we will not avoid them. Nor do we have to. But for those who love God, there is nothing that can damage them, because even from evil, they profit, and benefit their own souls and others.
When you love God, the Holy Ghost comes upon your soul, and through the gifts of wisdom, understanding, and others, shows you, that your soul is at peace with God, and that’s all that matters. Your soul goes into eternity, even from now on, and you see this time for what it is, nothing but a brief moment of trial.
The Peace of that sanctuary, of the Love of God in your soul.
My friends, we will only enjoy this peace, in as much as we love God. Let us all work then in growing in the love of God. First, by getting rid of all things, music, movies, friends, etc that might displease him; and secondly by acting further and with more devotion in our life of piety. Our prayers, morning, evening, rosary, and Mass. Remember what we talked about last Sunday. Increase your devotion and attention.
As St. John of the Cross said: “At the dusk of life, you will be examined in Love”
