Weekday Sermons; Nov Wed 8, Thurs 9th, Fri 10th, 2017

Wednesday

 St Paul affirms what Jesus taught, by word and action and what the Church teaches.

That it is by loving one another that we fulfill the commandments.
St Augustine said – Love (as Jesus loved) and do what you like, because what you like would be just and good.
Selfless love fulfills the commandments.
If you love your spouse will not commit adultery;
If you love your enemy you will not kill;
If you love your neighbor you will not steal; or covet,
If you love the foreigner and immigrant and you will not abuse or oppress.
Jesus says - to love others in this inclusive and radical way is not a burden, but it is a cross.
He tells us - whoever does not carry his cross and follow him cannot be his friend.
To me this cross looks a lot like ongoing selfless love and it certainly looks like following Jesus.
And today it also looks like carrying this cross is Wisdom.
In following Jesus (doing what he does) we are like a builder who calculates correctly the cost of construction as so insures success or a king who marches into battle only after planning his strength, as so insures victory.
 We must pick up our cross, daily, time and time again, always following Jesus by renouncing disordered attachment to the things of this world, and by turning our backs to self-centeredness that separates us from God and other.
But, if we abandon the cross, things and self-love will become our little gods and there will be no room for God or neighbor.
And if we do not love God and neighbor, we are not carrying our cross and if we are not carrying our cross, we surely we not following Jesus. And if we are not following Jesus, we are surly lost.

Thursday (Feast of the Dedication to St John Lateran)

In baptism is the great foundation. Through baptism we begin to share life with the Holy Spirit and we are incorporated into the Body of Christ (which is gathered and bound together by the Spirit). St Paul today calls the Body of Christ - God’s building.

St Paul says to the Corinthians that though he has laid the foundation by preaching the Good News and by baptizing it is up to each member of the body to carefully build upon it, because a community of believers is not static in its Faith, Hope and Love.

We are always and everywhere driven by the Spirit, we are dynamic and transfigured by the living God.

There is only one true and trustworthy foundation on which we can build our lives and it is Jesus.  There is only one way to set this foundation and it is baptism.

And baptism is a sacramental gift of the Spirit, realized in the Church.

St Paul refers to the importance of our baptism when he says - do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

We must keep this temple, this body of Christ free from corruption and sin.

In the Gospel, Jesus, as angry as we ever see him confronts those who distort and restrict the worship of God in the temple. He confronts those who rather make a profit then worship God. Jesus finds no love of man there.

 "Take these out of here” he says, “stop making my Father's house a marketplace."

We too must keep our temple (Body and Church) free from what distorts and restricts our love of God and neighbor. We must reject what separates us from God and draws us away from the common good.

To keep our temple steps clear and clean we must strive and persevere in living good lives that point to and testify to the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached.

 It is a living Faith, a baptism lived out daily that keeps the Spirit within us alive, our temple clean or cross light and our hope of resurrection firm.  

Friday (Memorial of Saint Leo the Great,  Pope and Doctor of the Church)

I echo what St Paul says “I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters,
that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge.”

I am convinced that of you are full of faith, always acting in humility and kindness.

And like Paul I do not dare speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished and will accomplish through you and me and all the faithful.

Because everything comes from God and everything will be accomplished, in the Spirit, by his Son, Our Lord, Jesus.

I am convinced today, in no small part, because you are here, not out of guilt, but because it matters to you. To spend time with the Blessed Mother, To hear the Word of God, to share fellowship with the Spirit that flows from God. You come to break bread and to become bread broken for others.

You come, because the Spirit that commands all of us – Go forth, do the next good thing.

In the Gospel the master commends the dishonest steward for acting prudently. If not a little dishonestly. But, it is not the act that the master commends, but the action. It is the doing something rather than nothing the master praises.

And you are doing something. Living not as children of this world (though you live in the world and you care for the world), but as children of light that reflects, by your actions, the Faith, Hope and Love that is in the world.

And as children of light you are alert for the return of the master. You act in great haste and sureness, yet to the world, you are simply humble and kind.

But it is this very humbleness and kindness that will secure your rightful place at the banquet table of Our Lord.

Because, as children of light, you will be surly invited.