HEAPING COALS OF FIRE

A SERMON FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

The question of how we should act towards our enemies is always a difficult one.  When we are attacked, whether physically, verbally, emotionally, or however, it may be, we experience certain feelings, usually of anger, resentment, depression or something similar.  Now, I can’t say often enough, and I’ll say it again now, that we can’t help how we feel—only how we act.  In other words, no matter what we might feel about the injury done to us, what’s important is not how we feel about it, but what we do about it.

As usual, when we’re not sure, we look to the Scriptures for guidance.  Today’s Epistle is unambiguous—“Avenge not yourselves,” says St. Paul, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay.”  So it would seem that any time someone attacks or hurts us in any way, we should just sit back and let them do it…  Even our Lord tells us to forgive our enemies and turn the other cheek.  This kind of passive response, however, goes completely against those ‘feelings’ we have, doesn’t it?  And we can even justify a more aggressive reaction sometimes.  For example, do we not teach our sons that if they are being bullied they should punch the bully in the face rather than just taking his beating like a little wimp?  And if we’re never going to fight back, why on earth do we feel the need for a Second Amendment that permits us to carry a firearm?

The truth is that we have a natural—and therefore God-given—right to self-defence.  However, let’s remember a ‘right’ is not the same as a ‘duty.’  Just because we have the right to defend ourselves doesn’t necessarily mean that we have the obligation to fight back.  We still have to figure out when it’s okay to retaliate, and when should we turn that other cheek?  That’s where prudence, common sense, charity, and a whole host of other virtues need to be factored in.  I can give one or two pointers, but ultimately we have to use our own judgment and try to do what we think God would want us to do.

Pointer number one is that any retaliation must be proportionate.  Even the civil law upholds this standard.  For example, if someone stops us in the street and demands our wallet, we’re not allowed to whip out our .38 and blow him away.  Lethal force, they tell us, must only be used if our life is endangered.  This makes sense, and is the same principle by which parents don’t beat their children with a baseball bat because they have the TV too loud.  The whole point is not to escalate the situation.  There’s no telling how far it might go, and it’s always better to try and calm things down if possible.

Secondly, the threat must be imminent.  You must be actually under attack.  Try and avoid the idea that revenge is something that’s best served cold.  We’re supposed to be defending ourselves from imminent harm, not getting our own back.  The vengeance part of things is not for us to deal out.  God’s justice is quite sufficient and we may comfortably leave it to him. 

We may legitimately wonder whether it’s okay to use pre-emptive violence to prevent an attack that we know is coming.  That’s a tricky one, as there are so many possible variables, not to mention room for mistakes.  If a nasty-looking man approaches us on a quiet street in the middle of the night, we can’t attack him just for looking nasty.  Maybe he wants to ask us what time it is.  So we must be extremely careful in pre-judging the actions of others.

Our Lord himself gives us various examples of how to act towards our enemies.  In today’s Gospel, we see such an enemy in the person of a Roman centurion.  He’s a soldier in the army occupying the Holy Land and persecuting God’s chosen people at the time, so how does our Lord act towards him?  When the enemy beseeches him to come and heal his servant, our Lord replies simply, “I will come and heal him.”  He sets the example of which St. Paul will later write that “if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst give him drink.”  Later on, when soldiers like this centurion arrest our Lord in Gethsemane, scourge him, and crown him with thorns, he does not resist.  He goes to the Cross like a lamb to the slaughter, as Isaiah prophesied, not fighting back, not calling out any words of anger or resentment, but only of forgiveness.  He did point out, though, that God could have, and would have sent a whole legion of angels to defend him if that had been his will.  The circumstances changed how God wanted to handle the situation.

Take another occasion, for example, when our Lord reacted in a completely different manner.  When he saw his Father’s temple being desecrated by the money-lenders, he took a whip to them and drove them out.  It’s not clear if he actually whipped anyone, or whether the whip was merely a way of showing them he meant business, but it was certainly a different reaction than the one he showed on the road to Calvary. Here, the attack was in the process of being made, financial transactions were being made in God’s holy house, and God’s Son intervened to protect the home.  His actions that day were all the more remarkable for being so rare, and his example is clear—we may use physical force, but only in certain circumstances, and it should not be our normal reaction to acts we feel are hostile.

Holy men and women through the ages have been persecuted, even tortured and killed, for the sake of God and his anointed Son.  For their patience in suffering, they were crowned as martyrs.  But there have been other men and women, who literally fought, violently fought, for the rights of God and his Church.  These have never been canonized as saints.  We have only to think of Guy Fawkes and his famous Gunpowder Plot: he planted barrels of gunpowder in the cellars of Parliament, with a view to assassinating the Protestant king and his ministers, enemies of the Church, enemies of God, certainly.  But with his violent ideas, perhaps motivated more by politics than his love for God, Guy Fawkes brought the whole Catholic Church into disrepute, and ended up doing more harm than good.  He was executed for his attempt to kill the enemies of God, but he has never been recognized as a martyr.

In more recent times, the Irish Republican Army used similar tactics against what they perceived as the Protestant enemies of England.  However, they went far beyond mere self-defence, planting bombs in crowded public places, killing and maiming hundreds of innocent civilians, including children.  They may have seen themselves as crusaders for the faith, but in reality they were nothing but murderers.  One of my fellow-seminarians back in the 1980s took it into his head to attack John Paul II with a knife.  Fortunately, he was prevented from making actual contact, but we have to wonder what he was thinking!  “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord!”

In our own lives, we’re usually not confronted with gunpowder plots, Irish terrorists or crazy seminarians.  More likely, we have to put up with bad-tempered bosses and lazy employees, nagging wives, grumpy husbands and cheeky children.  And our own response is usually not going to be violent.  But guess what!  If we’re a boss with lazy employees, we’re going to be bad-tempered.  If we’re a wife with a grumpy husband, we’re going to nag.  The man with a nagging wife is going to be grumpy.  And so on it goes, forming a never-ending cycle of unpleasantness.  We must learn to stop this cycle by improving our own behavior and our tolerance of other people’s faults.  The lazy employee must work harder, and maybe his boss will treat him a little better.  The husband must work on his bad moods, and maybe his wife will appreciate him more.  The children must learn respect and how to cooperate within the home, and maybe their parents will be trust them more and be able to relax the rules a little.

Always think in terms of de-escalating the conflict.  Break the cycle.  “Live peaceably with all men,” as St. Paul says.  For if you try not to be overcome with evil, and try instead to overcome evil with good, you will take away the motivation of your adversary to do you harm.  How can you be angry at someone, let alone attack them, if they are being kind to you, smiling, showing God’s love?  And if this tactic does NOT work, then, says St. Paul you’ll be “heaping coals of fire on their head.”   It won’t be you throwing those coals of fire at them, though.  You will remain guiltless.  “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.”  God is merciful to the repentant sinner, but he is a just God also, and the time will come when he will judge all those who fail to show mercy and keep the peace.  All those—including ourselves.

PEACE, PERFECT PEACE

A HYMN FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

By E.H. Bickersteth, 1873

Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The Blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.

Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
In Jesus’ keeping we are safe, and they.

Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and he is on the throne.

Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?
Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.

It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease
And Jesus call us to heaven’s perfect peace.

O LORD, I AM NOT WORTHY

A REFLECTION FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

When someone important invites us to his home, our natural inclination is to accept right away.  We might be afraid that a refusal would offend him, or we might welcome the opportunity to ask him for a favor; we might see it as an overture of friendship or approval from a superior, or maybe we’d just welcome having some free food.  Whatever our motivation, we gladly accept the invite.  And then we start having our little qualms of “unworthiness”, which take many forms…

What should I wear?  Would my blue evening gown impress him, or would my MAGA hat offend him?  Will the children behave?  Will my husband belch after the dessert?  Should I bring a bottle of wine or flowers for his wife?  And why has he invited us anyway?  What’s his agenda? 

When a Roman centurion asks our Lord to come to his home, his reason for doing so is made clear: “My servant lieth at home sick.”  Our Lord’s acceptance is immediate and unambiguous: “I will come and heal him.”  Just in case our Lord isn’t aware of the centurion’s importance, the soldier doesn’t hesitate in making it quite clear: “I have soldiers under me, and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh.”  The centurion’s motive in providing this information to our Lord is not to impress him, but rather the contrary.  He is telling Jesus that he could quite easily command him to come and heal his servant, but instead of giving him orders, he is instead “beseeching him” to come.  In other words, he is recognizing that no matter how important he might be, our Lord is far superior.

This is why our Lord marvels at the centurion’s faith.  Here is a Gentile, a member of the army occupying the sacred land of Israel.  And yet, says our Lord, he has more faith than the Jews.  It is not the invited guest in this case who has second thoughts about his unworthiness, but rather, the person inviting Jesus to his home: “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.”

Today, how many non-Catholics often seem to have more faith than we do?  How often do we marvel at the faith of evangelical Protestants, Novus Ordo Catholics, while we are scandalized by the lack of our own faith and others who have remained true to our Catholic traditions.  It’s something to think about, especially as we listen to our Lord’s own words in today’s Gospel, that “many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down.. in the kingdom of heaven.  But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  We have here an open reprimand from God: just because we call ourselves traditional Catholics does not mean we are practicing the faith the way God wants.  We must constantly review our relationship with God, and judge it as one day God surely will.  “O Lord, I am not worthy.”

THE OTHER TWO EPIPHANIES

A SERMON FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

We’re all very familiar with the story of the Epiphany, I’m sure.  If I asked any of you to tell me what Epiphany was all about, there’s no doubt I’d hear everything there is to hear about the Three Kings following a star, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  And all of this would be perfectly true.  When God lead the three Wise Men to the newborn Child of Bethlehem, he did so by means of a miraculous star in the heavens, and this was the Saviour’s first Appearance, or Manifestation, to those who were not of God’s Chosen People.  These were Gentiles, non-Jews, whom the Jews looked down upon as inferiors, pagans, the non-chosen ones.

It was the first outward manifestation of the Son of God to the world, but it was not the last.  On the feast of the Epiphany, we also celebrate two other events in the life of our Lord, in which he once again showed himself to the world as the Son of God.  At Vespers last Monday, the Octave Day of the Epiphany, the antiphon at the Magnificat describes all three manifestations as follows:  “Now do we celebrate a festival in honour of three days when Christ was made manifest: the day whereon a star led the Wise Men to the manger; the day whereon water was turned to wine at the wedding feast; the day whereon Christ was pleased to be baptized of John in Jordan that he might save us, alleluia.”

We celebrate the Epiphany of the Three Kings on January 6 and the week that follows.  However, on the Octave Day of Epiphany, our attention is drawn by the Gospel describing our Lord’s baptism in the River Jordan, when the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove, and abode upon him.  And now, today’s Gospel, that of the Second Sunday after Epiphany, takes us to the scene of the Third Epiphany, when our Lord performs his first miracle, changing water into wine.

Three events, three Epiphanies.  What they all have in common is that they illuminate the understanding of men, bringing light to those who dwelled in darkness, making it manifest that the thousands of years of obscurity, doubt and confusion since Adam is now over, that a Messiah has been born and now dwells amongst them, recognized by God above and made manifest to man by his miracles. 

When the Three Kings made their perilous journey across field and fountain, moor and mountain, it was no ordinary star they followed.  It was a star that not only gave off light to the world, but gradually moved into place over the stable in which was born the true Light of the World.  Here the light of the star remained still, shining forth over the Child of Bethlehem from whom it derived its light.

When Christ was baptized, the heavens opened and a voice spake forth, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  At the start of our Lord’s earthly ministry it was no longer enough that a chunk of space rock should bear witness to his coming.  This time, it was God the Father himself who spoke from heaven to declare it.  And with the visible descent of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove, who abode upon him, all the Persons of the Blessed Trinity came together to leave no doubt that this was truly the Son of God.

People saw these events and they wondered.  This was a man to be watched, at whose birth stars moved and stopped, Kings came and adored, and then voices were heard from heaven.  And they watched and they waited, looking for some sign that this man was going to be as special as the omens and portents foreshadowed.  And so we come to the wedding feast of Cana.  Nothing special at first.  Christ was just another guest, showing up with his mother.  But then something rather embarrassing occurred.   They ran out of wine.  Running out of wine was something you just didn’t let happen at a wedding feast, and there must have been some very red faces.  But then something even more unthinkable happened, and news swiftly spread abroad.  The carpenter’s son had changed regular water into wine, really good wine.  It was a miracle.  This man had abrogated the laws of nature, something only the very Creator of nature could do.  He had turned one substance into another.

These three manifestations, or Epiphanies, each showed the world that Christ was the Son of God, the Messiah who had finally come to save the world from its sins.  Anyone with a rational mind and of good will would surely follow this man and take advantage of the Redemption he offered.  And yet, as we have seen as recently as these past few years , and on a daily basis, there is no end to the determination of people in the political sphere who are either not of rational mind, or more likely, not men of good will, and who seek to destroy the efforts of those who so far have brought us nothing but improvements, prosperity, and peace.  When we turn on our TV sets and behold the daily chorus of condemnation against one man in particular, it should, if nothing else, remind us of the treatment our blessed Lord himself received at the hands of his chosen people.  And while God may have wanted to ‘put Israel first’—they were, after all, his chosen people—he knew from all eternity that his Son would come unto his own, but his own would receive him not.”  Despite speaking himself from the heavens, his people would reject their Messiah.  God knew this and prepared for it, by leading those non-Jewish Wise Men from their pagan lands to Bethlehem, there to bow down and worship, for the first time in their lives, the One True God.

Our response to this should be a simple one.  We must listen to the voice of God, we must accept in our hearts that his Son is indeed our Redeemer and our Saviour.  Most importantly of all, we must obey his commandments.  For if we do not, why on earth should we dare to expect his blessings upon our enterprises, our good health, our marriages, our families, our homes, or anything else?  Why should we even expect that we might save our souls if we ignore the graces he sends us?  The three Epiphanies of this Christmas season give us every reason to believe and, having believed, to live a good Christian life.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

A SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

When the young heroine of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, clicked her red shoes together and exclaimed that “there’s no place like home,” she was magically transported back to Kansas, where she woke up, as if from a dream, to find herself back home with her kind Auntie Em and all her other old friends and family.  She hadn’t been gone long, but the adventure she had experienced had made it seem like her home was unreachable, far beyond time and space.  Her relief and joy to find herself back on the old Kansas farm was indescribable.

We are all human beings, with the same emotions and nostalgia as Dorothy.  How long is it since we were in the home of our childhood?  How much would we give to be able to click our shoes together and relive just a few minutes of the time we spent there?  We too have undergone the adventure of a lifetime.  In fact, our lifetime has been that adventure, and the past, in particular the memories of ‘home, sweet home’ are nothing but that—memories.  They can be retrieved only in fading photographs and the equally fading pictures in our mind.  But what precious pictures they are!

Home is something far more than the bricks and mortar, the walls and floors of a mere building.  It’s the place where our adventure began, and is filled with all the happy memories of childhood.  The older we get, the more we appreciate what we had within those walls—parents, siblings, security, happiness—people and things, events and emotions, that have faded far into the past and which, perhaps, we can no longer reach.

Home, you see, is not just an idea.  It’s an ideal.  That’s why an unhappy home is just a terrible thing.  The home in which the father is an abusive alcoholic, the woman a bitter, angry nag, the children rebellious, godless, pleasure-seeking and money-hungry—such a home goes against the nature of things as God created them.  An unhappy home leads to an unhappy future and unhappy memories for all those in it.  An unhappy home has no foundation in the natural family life of mother, father and children, each playing his or her role as God intended.  If our memories of our childhood home are mostly unhappy, chances are, we’re not happy now.  We may not be the ones responsible for the unpleasant memories of our past, but let’s not forget, we ARE responsible, at least to some extent, for the future memories of those who live with us in our home today.

To show us what a true and godly home should be like, God has given us today the most perfect example of a home, a home in Nazareth in which the Holy Family lived.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  We have only to think of this household and the three family members who lived there, to realize how far short of the ideal our own home falls.  It's only by working hard to make our home as close to the ideal of Nazareth as we possibly can, that we can assure the happiness of ourselves and our other family members.  Today’s home is tomorrow’s memories, so we must create good and happy memories now.

If we concentrate for a second on our own contribution to the imperfection of our home, I’m sure we’ll be able to see room for improvement.  It’s easy enough to dwell on the faults and imperfections of our parents, our brothers and sisters, our children; but let’s ask ourselves “What do I do that makes the home a less pleasant place to live in for everyone else?”  What am I like to live with?  I can’t answer this question for you.  Only you know, and I hope you’ll spend a little time thinking about it.  It’s called an Examination of Conscience, and we’re supposed to make one every night before we go to bed.   What is my contribution to the home?  Is home a better place because I live in it?  Or not?  And if not, what must I do to create those good memories of family life, of ‘home, sweet home’?

Sure, living together in close proximity with other people, especially those we didn’t choose, can be difficult sometimes.  We all have our little quirks and imperfections.  But again, what is MY reaction to those quirks and imperfections?  Do I nag, do I rant and rage, do I sulk, do I deliberately provoke others, am I too easily provoked, am I violent or abusive, am I always grumbling and miserable?  

There are so many ways of making things worse, aren’t there?  But let’s remember, there are just as many ways of making them better!  Little acts of kindness go such a long way to creating a peaceful and pleasant home.  Remember the hymn Ubi Caritas—“Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found.”  Our ideal, let’s not forget, is something even nicer than good old Auntie Em!  The perfect love that flowed in that little house in Nazareth is the answer to all the difficulties of our own home life.  We should always fall back to the example of the Holy Family every time we run into problems at home, and try and apply their mutual love and love for God to our own little issues.  Tolerance of each other’s faults, patience with mood swings, reliance on Divine Providence in times of peril, whether they be physical, emotional, financial or whatever—With the help of the Holy Family we should be able to deal with anything. 

Holy Mary was the perfect mother, a loving comforter, a patient teacher.  She will teach us how to be kind and patient with each other’s faults.  She will comfort and encourage us when we are victims of the unkindness of others.  St. Joseph meanwhile was the perfect protector and provider.  It is to St. Joseph we should address our prayers in times of physical danger or financial difficulty.  And above all, the Christ Child himself, Son of God, model of perfection for us all and source of all good things.  Trust in his Divine Providence, love him in his human childhood, revere him in his almighty Godhood.  And children, make him your example, especially at those times when you think you know better than your parents.  Maybe, just maybe, sometimes you do…  Christ certainly knew better than his parents—he had infinite knowledge and wisdom.  And yet, how did this Child behave towards Mary and Joseph?  As the Gospel tells us today, “he was subject unto them.”

Make your home a place of mutual trust, respect, and love, just like the home of the Holy Family.  Trust in God, love each other as God commands, with mutual respect and, more importantly, respect for God’s laws.  If every member of the family does this, you’ll be guaranteeing for yourselves and each other not only happy memories in this life, but an eternity of happiness in the next. 

WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE PREVAIL

A HYMN FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

From the Latin Ubi Caritas, translated by Omer Westendorf

Where charity and love prevail,
There God is ever found;
Brought here together by Christ's love
By love we are thus bound.

With grateful joy and holy fear, 
God's charity we learn;
Let us with heart and mind and soul
Now love God in return.

Let us recall that in our midst
Dwells Christ, God's holy Son;
As members of each body joined
In him we are made one.

Let strife among us be unknown,
Let all contentions cease;
Be God's the glory that we seek,
Be his our only peace.

Let us forgive each other's faults
As we our own confess;
That we may love each other well
In Christian gentleness.

EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW

A SERMON FOR THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS

Those of you who have had children know what a hard thing it is to come up with the right name for them. You have to make sure it doesn’t rhyme with their last name, or have too many of the same letters, or ends up just sounding stupid.  If you’re naming the baby after a member of the family, you have to be careful you’re not offending another family member by not naming it after him.  And so on.  It’s a tricky business.  Our blessed Lady had no such problems in finding a name for her Child.  In the case of Our Lord there was no discussion.  The holy name of her Baby was already chosen by God, and given to Our Blessed Lady at the time of the Annunciation: “Fear not, Mary,” said the Angel Gabriel, “for thou hast found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.”

Why was this name chosen by God?  Because the meaning of the name Jesus is “Saviour.”  St. Bernard of Clairvaux explains this name in his sermon on the Circumcision.  “My Jesus,” he says, “doth not bear this Name as an empty, honourific title, as did all others before him who were so named.”  In the Old Testament there had been plenty of men who bore this fairly common name of Jesus, or in Hebrew, “Joshua”.  Even today, in the Spanish-speaking world, there’s no shortage of men called “Jesus”.  They use the name “Jesus” like we do with “Bobby” or “Fred.”  After all, it’s just a name, something we’re called and by which we’re known.  But “In him,” continues St. Bernard, referring to the divine Christ Child, the “Saviour”, “this Name is not the mere shadow cast by the great Name of God as our Saviour; rather it is he himself that giveth the true meaning to this Name.”  In other words the meaning of the name Jesus is Saviour, but for Our Lord, it is not just a name but the essence of who he is.  He isthe Saviour.

St. Bernard goes on to say that “it is fitting that the Child which was born for man should, at the moment of his Circumcision, be called Saviour by man: because from that moment he began to work for our salvation by shedding for us that most pure blood.”   On the very day the Christ Child was given the name of Saviour eight days after he was born, he immediately he began to be that Saviour, he began to save us by those first few little drops of Blood spilled by the knife of circumcision. 

This name of Jesus is then truly a Holy Name.  It’s why we bow our heads whenever we say this Name.  And really, bowing our heads is only a simple token of the honor we should give to this Name.  St. Paul tells us that actually, “at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.”  Angels, men, and demons, in other words, should all fall to their knees at the very pronunciation of the Name of Jesus.  Small wonder though, that demons and the men under their influence, like the scriptwriters of Hollywood for instance, prefer to abuse the Holy Name and turn it into the vilest of curse words, rather than the source of blessing that it should be.

 It is a name that brings help in bodily needs, consolation in spiritual trials, and protection against Satan and his wicked snares.  It is in the Name of Jesus that we obtain any and all blessings from God, and all we ask of God, we ask in Jesus’ Holy Name.  It’s why we hear those words at the end of every collect at Mass, Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, and so on—“Through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord…”. For what we ask in his Name shall be granted.

The greatest promoter of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus was St. Bernardine of Siena, a Franciscan priest, who lived from 1380 to 1444.  He is known as the Apostle of Italy for all his efforts to revive the faith in that part of Europe.  He preached in particular against gambling, witchcraft, sodomy and usury, and it is interesting to note in passing how these vices raise their ugly heads whenever the Christian faith is in decline.  As the faith wanes, so does the devil replace the desire for God with the kind of base practices that are so prevalent today—gambling, witchcraft, sodomy and usury.  

Today, the love of money has far surpassed the love there once was for God.  The vices that St. Bernardine fought against in the fifteenth century, gambling and usury, have become the huge financial industry that thrives, usually to the corruption and downfall of the people it entraps.  We no longer gamble so much on horses, but on the stock exchange, the commodities exchange, and so on.  We wake up in the morning and check on our Apple stocks, or find out what is the price of oil, rather than making our Morning Offering to God.   And usury?  This isn’t just asking for a bit more back on a loan than the amount lent.  No, today, it is the banking industry.  What was once a simple way of keeping our money somewhere safe, has become, thanks to the work of folks like the Rothschild family, a huge interlocking machine of lending and borrowing, designed for the sole purpose of making the bankers themselves ever richer.

St. Bernardine also railed against sodomy and witchcraft.  We hardly need to mention the first of these, as it’s in our face on a daily basis.  There isn’t a movie or a TV series on our screens that doesn’t feel compelled to promote some variation of sinful relationship on a level more debased than anything we’ve seen since they figured out how to make moving images.  But what about witchcraft?  You may not have come across examples of this in your life, but be assured that not only Wicca but even out-and-out Satanism are alive and well, particularly amongst the so-called “elites” of our society.  Those who have time on their hands and minds ripe for idling, provide the Devil with his ideal workshop for sewing the most contaminated filth you could imagine.  

A good priest, Fr. Malachi Martin, exposed the use of Satanism by many of the cardinals in the Church, and some of the evidence emanating from the pedophilia investigations in that institution has provided plenty of backup for those charges.  Modern popes don’t seem so anxious these days to preach against these evils.   They seem more anxious to protect the rights of homosexuals than to preach against them, preferring gay rights to God’s rights.   When it comes to false religions, including even voodoo, popes and bishops seem to ignore completely the words of St. Peter in today’s Lesson, that “Neither is there salvation in any other {name]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  Today’s popes don’t seem to have a clue what those words mean, and instead of preaching against witchcraft, John Paul II actually became the first pope in history to praise the religion of voodoo, which explicitly worships the devil.  Now this man is placed on once Catholic altars to be venerated as a saint.  In reality the institution of the Roman Catholic Church has become the seat of satanic worship, with its flat refusal to acknowledge the words of St. Peter that it is only by the Holy Name of Jesus that man shall be saved.  For as we have seen, once you take away Jesus, the devil rushes in to take his place.

And if these “churchmen” are supposed to be the salt of the earth, what does that make us suspect about, let’s say, our congressmen and senators, our leaders of industry, all those in positions of power and influence?  How many Harvey Weinsteins, and Jeffrey Epsteins are there out there, we may wonder?  And how far does all that human trafficking really go? 

St. Bernardine combatted all this in his own day by devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus.  It was by his efforts, for example, that the Name of Jesus was added to the Hail Mary after the words “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”  When St. Bernardine traveled about the cities of Italy, he carried with him a copy of the monogram of the Holy Name, surrounded by rays, painted on a wooden tablet.   With this he used to bless the sick, and many great miracles attest to the efficacy of his devotion to the Name of Jesus.  This monogram or emblem representing the Holy Name of Jesus consisted of the three letters “IHS,” which are the first three letter of Jesus in the Greek alphabet.  Whenever St. Bernardine finished his sermons he would display the monogram on his wooden tablet to the faithful, exhorting them to prostrate themselves and adore the Redeemer of mankind.   It was his practice to recommend that the monogram of Jesus be placed over the city gates of the cities and above the doors of each dwelling place.  If you walk around the city of Siena today you will see countless examples of where this was put into practice, and one can scarcely walk more than a few yards without seeing the IHS monogram prominently displayed. 

Until the Second Vatican Council, Catholics held the Holy Name in great reverence, and the Holy Name Society used to organize grand processions to honor that Name on today’s feastday.  Before Vatican II the Society boasted over half a million members in the United States alone. The majority of men in every parish were members in those days!  Since Vatican II of course, as with every other Catholic institution, numbers have dwindled to almost nothing.  If blasphemy runs riot today, it is thanks to the wandering Novus Ordo Church herself, and not to the enemies of that Church.

Today we are the ones who must stand in for those hundreds of thousands of members of the Holy Name Society of ages past.  We are few in number, and the individual burden of responsibility is all the heavier now it is no longer shared among so many.  But we must at least try to uphold the objectives of the Society, firstly by promoting love and reverence for the Holy Name of God and Jesus Christ, and then by suppressing blasphemy, perjury, forbidden oaths, profanity, unlawful swearing, improper language, and, as far as we can, by helping to prevent those vices in others.  Let’s make our actions and our attitude one based on St. Bernardine’s great battle against the corruption of society with its love of greed, and its corresponding lack of faith and morals.

Whether we are members of the Holy Name Society or not, today’s Feast should instill in us a renewed reverence for the Holy Name, so that we may forever hold it in awe and never as a casual curse word to be uttered without thinking.  He who bears the Name of Jesus told us himself, that his yoke is easy and his burden light, so let us embrace this duty fervently and with enthusiasm.  If we can’t walk in procession today as in days of old, carrying the Holy Name aloft on our banners, let us at least carry the Name of Jesus always in our hearts, that all men may hear from our lips, and see from our example, the shining light of salvation that this Name brings.

AT THE NAME OF JESUS

A HYMN FOR THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS

By Caroline Marie Noel, 1817-1877

1 At the name of Jesus ev'ry knee shall bow,

ev'ry tongue confess him King of glory now.

'Tis the Father's pleasure we should call him Lord,

who from the beginning was the mighty Word.

2 At his voice creation sprang at once to sight,

all the angel faces, all the hosts of light,

thrones and dominations, stars upon their way,

all the heav'nly orders in their great array.

3 Humbled for a season to receive a name

from the lips of sinners unto whom he came,

faithfully he bore it spotless to the last,

brought it back victorious, when from death he passed.

4 In your hearts enthrone him; there let him subdue

all that is not holy, all that is not true;

crown him as your Captain in temptation's hour:

let his will enfold you in its light and pow'r.

5 Brothers, this Lord Jesus shall return again,

with his Father's glory, with his angel train;

for all wreaths of empire meet upon his brow,

and our hearts confess him King of glory now.

THE EPIPHANY BLESSING

A REFLECTION FOR THE EPIPHANY

(20 + Caspar + Melchior + Balthazar + 20) 

This Holy Inscription is placed over each door in the house—beginning with the main entrance door. This is to obtain the notice of the Three Wise Men, and to remind us of their prayers and protection. 

The Three Wise Men traveled great distances, in heat and cold, over mountains and deserts, while most of our travel is limited to going back and forth through the doorways of our homes.  They are our example nevertheless: as we make our way through life in this way till we find our final rest with God, the travels of the Wise Men and the dangers that faced them with each new day did not stop them until they reached the place where they found the child with Mary His Mother. 

The Epiphany Blessing is an act of Faith. It must never be looked upon as an act of superstition that is considered merely to bring protection. By our act of Faith, we ask the Three Wise Men to lead us safely across the line of the Year of Our Lord 2020. We ask them, also, to lead us in safely until we reach the Place where we shall find Him. We must never doubt. Our Faith must cause us to believe that the holy inscription over our door will stand guard over our house and protect it. Our Faith must ever be strong and constant, so that God’s protection remains strong and constant. 

Call to mind now when the Kings sought certitude, they turned to human reassurance and human counsel. At their arrival at Jerusalem they sought human help. In so doing, they lost divine guidance. In their demand to the Jews for natural evidence, they were punished by the withdrawal of the heavenly sign. When they finally left Herod and stopped looking for human guidance, the star again went before them until it stood over the place where the Child was. Only after dependence on the providence of God was re-established did the star reappear, to lead them safely to their final destination. And falling down on their knees they worshiped Him. 

So must it be with us as we step into the New Year 2020. We must not fear the thunder that is shaking our earth! We must not fear cold, or hunger, or poverty or martyrdom or death! We must not go forth in answer to every voice that calls to us from the depths of the world’s iniquity.  Stand guard, and together with the Saints, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, follow the star until we reach the Place where we shall find Him. 

(Author unknown)

DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUGHS OF HOLLY

A SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE CIRCUMCISION

I spent most of my life having nothing but disdain for a couple of specific Christmas carols.  I’ve been giving them some thought of late, though, and have come to the conclusion that they aren’t quite so frivolous as I’d thought.  Both of these carols have to do with Christmas decorations, specifically holly.

The first is probably, on the surface, the sillier of the two.  “Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-lah, la-la-la-lah.”  It invokes the picture of brain-dead scullery maids bustling through the manor house, threading strands of holly all over the place while they grin at each other and “troll the yuletide carol.”  One has the idea they can’t even remember the words of the carol, simply substituting plenty of fa-la-lahs for the ones they forget.  Beyond the crude reminder that “Tis the season to be jolly,” it’s hard to find any spiritual value in this trivial little carol.  And yet…

Let’s ask ourselves the question, “Why are they decking the halls with holly of all things?  Why not with paper trimmings, or colored lights?”  You see, it’s really all about the holly.  There’s an association between holly and Christmas that goes far beyond the mere fact that the holly maintains its bright colors during the Christmas season when most of nature is at its dreariest.  Christians have long identified a wealth of symbolism in this plant, and the second of our Christmas carols today, “The Holly and the Ivy” lays out these symbols verse by verse.  “The holly bears a prickle, as sharp as any thorn”—the sharpness of the leaves thus recall the crown of thorns.  In fact, in certain parts the holly is known as Christ’s Thorn.  “The holly bears a bark as bitter as any gall”—we are reminded of the gall and vinegar they gave our Lord to drink on the Cross.    Even the holly leaves themselves resemble flames, and are said to represent God’s burning love for his people. 

But of course it is the redness of the berries that is the most striking and significant thing about this Christmas plant.  “The holly bears a berry as red as any blood.”  These berries remind us, of course, of the drops of blood that were shed for our salvation.  And our first reaction to that reminder on this Octave Day of Christmas might be that it’s out of place.  After all, Christmas is a time of great peace and joy to all men of good will, and we really don’t want to be thinking about bloodshed and the men of evil will who cause that blood to be shed.  We think this way because our thoughts are not God’s thoughts.  We seem to think we live in an eternal present, with no future consequences to fear, and no past crimes to repent.  God sees things in the light of eternity on the other hand.  He sees the sins we have committed, the ones we are possibly committing right now, and even the ones we will commit in the future, whether we intend to or not.  He sees the original sin committed by Adam and Eve, and passed on down to their descendants.  He sees the need for his only-begotten Son to become man and die for their sin, and for all our sins, past, present, and future.

And so, on that Holy Night when Christ was born, God the Father looked down from heaven with something other than the shallow joy we humans feel with our fleeting, superficial emotions so chained to the events of the passing hours.  God is already looking ahead to the shedding of blood of this little babe in the manger, and which no amount of rejoicing and adoration on our part will prevent from happening.  Watch the holly berries and see how they fade not.

The very next day after Christmas, December 26^th, we celebrated the stoning to death of the very first Martyr of the Church, St. Stephen.  No sooner is our Festival Day over than this first saint to die at the hand of God’s enemies is pelted with stones until he lies bleeding, dying and forgiving his murderers.  A couple of days later and we find King Herod sending out his troops to wipe out all the infant boys in the region of Bethlehem, hoping that one of them will be the newborn King told to him by the three wise men from the East.  The slaughter of the Holy Innocents, these little children who remind us so much of the holiest of all Innocents, the Christ Child, the spilling of blood in the streets of David’s royal city—how far removed from our cozy Christmas thoughts is this?  We can’t seem to escape the reminders coming from God that the kings of the earth will continue till the end of time to rise up against the Lord and his Anointed.  On Sunday, it was the turn of St. Thomas Becket.  Murder in the Cathedral, the Martyr’s blood literally bespattered everywhere, decking the halls of Canterbury Cathedral like boughs of holly.

And how does mankind react to all this?  “Fa-la-la-la-lah la-la-la-lah.  Tis the season to be jolly.”  How many people think beyond this to the reason why Christ came, to the terrible things that were being plotted against him even then by Herod, and soon by the Pharisees and High Priests of the Temple.  And we Catholics?  How many of us are even aware that the day after Christmas is St. Stephen’s Day, or how the other blood-filled feasts of the Christmas Octave follow on, the Holy Innocents and St. Thomas of Canterbury?  We seem to be so embroiled in the material spirit of the holiday that we spare not one thought of what is to befall that little Christ Child.  “O the rising of the sun, and the running of the deer…” Even our visits to church are just an exercise in nostalgia, “the playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir.”  What will it take for us to really understand Christmas?

It will take no less than the spilling of the Most Precious Blood of Christ himself.  And so, on this, the Octave Day of Christmas, a knife was taken to this little tiny Child.  And according to Jewish law the Rite of Circumcision was performed on the Son of the Most High Almighty God.  For the first time, Christ’s Blood was spilled, the Blood of the New and Everlasting Covenant, the Mystery of Faith and our Redemption.  Little drops of blood, like holly berries, dripped on to the floor of the stable, and as we kneel again before the image of the Christ Child today, let us tremble a little at the terrible hatred the world has for this tiny infant.  These men can barely wait for the Crucifixion to spill his Blood again.  And we Catholics, as we so blithely and complacently continue our sinful ways, our mundane obsessions, our fa-la-lahs, what importance has this Christ Child for us?  “Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ for to redeem us all.”  So before we un-deck the halls with their boughs of holly, let’s wait a while, give time for all the events and anniversaries of this past week to sink into our mind.  Let’s ponder over the tremendous amount of blood that has been spilled thus far, and to which we must always be prepared to add our own if called upon.  And above all, let’s recall the most vital of all those drops of Blood, those of our divine Saviour, spilled upon this day.  “For of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.”