ADDING A CUBIT TO YOUR STATURE

 A SERMON FOR THE 14TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

“Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”  It’s an interesting concept, maybe one you experimented with when you were younger.  You really concentrate on getting taller, you try really hard, but no matter how much you focus or imagine, you’re still the same height you started out with.  Disappointing.  What’s interesting though, is that every year, when you stand against the wall and your mother makes another pencil mark, you’re amazed to find that actually, you have grown, and you’re an inch or two taller than on your last birthday!  Some things, you see, are out of our control, and there’s nothing we can do to make them happen or not happen.  But in cases like this, we leave them up to God, and, one way or another, he takes care of them for us.

Obviously, this does not apply to everything.  I might try very hard and concentrate as hard as I possibly can, but it doesn’t seem to make me any thinner.  So should I leave it up to God and let him take care of it?  Every year or two, I have to buy a longer belt, so I don’t think that letting God handle it is going to work.  There are times when it is we need to take control of the situation, and God leaves it up to us with our free will to maintain that control.  We need to exercise that free will.  In fact, some of us just need to exercise, period.

We have to be very careful and discerning as we follow our Lord’s advice to consider the lilies of the field that “toil not, neither do they spin.”  The difference between us and the lilies is that they have no free will, and so all their needs have to be taken care of by God and the nature he created.  But when our Lord advises us to “take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?” he doesn’t mean we should just show up at the dinner table and expect a three-course meal to appear miraculously in front of us.  We have the responsibility of making sure we do the shopping, follow the recipe, peel the potatoes, and cook the dinner at the right temperature for the right amount of time.  God won’t do all that for us.  The point our Lord is making is that “our heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” and will provide you with the means of feeding yourselves and your family.  But it’s up to us to use those means and resources that God gives us.  And somehow we do seem to receive what we need.  After allas is  our Lord points out, if God is so solicitous about a humble flower, how much more shall he not clothe you?

When we pray, we must pray not for luxury and comfort, but for the needful things of life—a roof over our heads, a means of income, a good family who will work together to provide that income, do the cooking, set the table, and do the dishes afterwards.  These are our jobs, not God’s, and if we “seek first the kingdom of God” then we can be assured that “all these things shall be added unto you.”  We will do the work to find a good job, to buy a decent home in a good neighborhood that we can afford and take care of.  We will take the necessary steps to train our children in the faith, and bring them up to love God, to frequent the sacraments, and, yes, to obey the commandments.  God provides, we take what he gives us and use it for the greater good.

In short, God helps those who help themselves.  And when God gives us the opportunity to help ourselves, we would be wise not to ignore it.  If our house is on fire, we shouldn’t just sit there and expect God to save us while we ignore the firefighter who offers to carry us out.  Sometimes though, those opportunities are not quite so obvious.  Which brings me to the Sacrament of Confirmation.  As I announced last week, we’re going to be having Confirmations here shortly, and so we should consider whether or not this is one of those opportunities provided by God which we should take advantage of and use for the greater good of ourselves and our family.  If God is going to provide us with this opportunity to receive the fullness of the Holy Ghost with all that implies, it would not be wise for us to ignore it. 

What motivation should we have to receive this sacrament of Confirmation?  “Coincidentally,” in today’s Epistle, God provides us with a very strong reason for getting confirmed.  St. Paul compares those who are led of the Spirit with those who are not.  It’s a contrast that is unambiguous and should leave us in no doubt as to the only two possible conclusions to our life.  If we do the things we want to do, namely the works of the flesh, we will sin our way to hell, and will never be able to inherit the kingdom of God.  But if we’re led by the Spirit, we shall bear the fruits of the Spirit that will save our poor souls.  Who is this Spirit, if not the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit himself.  And how are to we to bear his fruits if not by receiving the fullness of the Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation?  Here then is one of the most important means we have from God to save our souls.  If we are to fight and win the battle against our fallen human nature, the world, and the devil, we should arm ourselves by being confirmed as warriors of God.  The importance of Confirmation cannot be over-emphasized.  Without it, we go into battle without armor and without weapons.  How can we expect to win? 

Let’s make it our number one priority over these coming weeks to make sure we and those under our care prepare ourselves to receive this sacrament if we haven’t already done so.  Let’s get out our catechisms and teach our children about the Holy Ghost and the Sacrament of Confirmation, preparing them to become soldiers in Christ’s army.  Let’s thank God for this rare opportunity when bishops are so few and far between, by focusing on what is within our own power and free will to choose, and then letting everything else fall into place according to the workings of Divine Providence.  Let us do as Christ himself told us: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Our efforts might not produce an immediate result in our own lives or those of our children.  But I’m sure and certain that, over time, when we come to take measure of ourselves later, we will find that through the infinite power and graces that come from the Holy Ghost, we will indeed have added a cubit to our stature.

COME DOWN, O LOVE DIVINE

 A HYMN FOR THE 14TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

By Bianco da Siena, 1350-1434,

translated by Richard Frederick Littledale

 

1 Come down, O Love divine, 
seek thou this soul of mine, 
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing; 
O Comforter, draw near, 
within my heart appear, 
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing. 

2 O let it freely burn, 
till earthly passions turn 
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming; 
and let thy glorious light 
shine ever on my sight, 
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming. 

 3 And so the yearning strong, 
with which the soul will long, 
shall far outpass the power of human telling; 
for none can guess its grace, 
till Love create a place 
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

STAYING WARM IN WINTER

A MESSAGE FOR THE 14TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

When the Holy Ghost appeared on the heads of the Apostles, he took the form of tongues of fire.  This was the visible symbol of the effect the Holy Ghost has on those who receive him.  Fire gives out heat, and it emits light.  Heat that burns away our attachment to sin, and light that shows us the path we must take if we wish to save our souls.  It is the fire of love.

In the words of today’s hymn, we ask the Holy Ghost to come down to us and set our hearts on fire with that same love: “Come down, O Love divine!”  We ask him to let his holy flame “freely burn, till earthly passions turn  to dust and ashes in its heat consuming.”  And we ask that his “glorious light 
shine ever on my sight, and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.” 

Heat and light are very important things.  In this brave new world of technology, we take them for granted, and by the flick of a switch, the rotation of a dial, we turn the lights on and adjust the heat so that it’s like the house of the three bears, not too hot and not too cold.  Imagine for a moment what would happen if there were to be a prolonged power cut.  We would return to the days of our pioneer forefathers, having to throw wood in the stove and put oil in the lamps.  Not so bad in the summer perhaps, but think of those long, cold winter nights, shivering as we wrap ourselves in blankets and huddling together to keep the chills out.

It’s the same with our spiritual life.  Without the divine flame of the Holy Ghost, we become cold in our love for God and neighbor.  Our world takes on a darkness that no earthly light can brighten, and we enter the dark night of the soul.  Eventually, the whole world becomes so infected with sin and corruption that God will have no choice but to intervene.  With three days of darkness, the earth will be chastised and many will suffer and die.  Only those whose bodies remain temples of the Holy Ghost will be saved.  So stay warm!

We’re in September already.  Look around you as the days grow shorter, and the temperatures start to drop.  Winter is slowly coming, and we need to think about heating and lighting up our homes.  Better yet, let’s turn our attention to our souls and beg God fervently to send his Holy Spirit to enflame us with his Love Divine: “O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear, and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.”