KNOWING THEM BY THEIR FRUITS

 A SERMON FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Our blessed Lord warns us today to beware of false prophets.  The word prophet is often confused with someone who foretells the future, and indeed, this is sometimes the role of the prophet.  But a prophet’s main responsibility is to make known the will of God to the people.  For this task, he has been set aside by God and given the direct graces to know God’s will and to convey it to the world.  This gives us a clue to recognizing a true prophet when we come across one.  A true prophet could never possibly contradict something that God has already revealed in the past and that has been taught consistently and dogmatically by the Church, because Truth is an objective reality that can’t change over time.

Many, many saints and theologians, clergy and laity, have been prophets in that they have been inspired with new insights into the eternal truths of God.  Unfortunately, others have come to us claiming to teach us totally “new” truths about who God is and what he wants for us, “truths” which weren’t true at all, but which contradicted the truths contained in divine revelation.  Some of them were outwardly very pious, and with great depth of passion and emotion preached their new doctrines.  People like Martin Luther and others were notoriously good at drawing people away from the Faith with their charismatic presence and rousing speeches.  At the age of 22, Luther had joined the Augustinian order as a monk and was later ordained a priest.  He dedicated himself to the monastic life, devoting himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.  He knew very well how to wear the habit of sheep’s clothing.  Eventually, of course, he left the priesthood, married a nun, and publicly denied many of the Church’s teachings, reducing the sacraments from seven to only two, denying the existence of priesthood, and claiming that salvation was not earned by good works but was rather a free gift from God given to all those who “believed” in presumably what only he, Luther, taught.  This ravening wolf in his sheep’s clothing went on to advocate for the killing of Jews and the burning down of synagogues, giving rise to an anti-Semitic fervor in Germany that continued until the 20^th century with tragic consequences.  Luther was not the last charismatic German who knew how to sway the crowds with rousing speeches.

On October 13, 2016, ironically the anniversary of the miracle of the sun at Fatima, another man, this time dressed in the habit of a pope, enthroned a statue of Martin Luther in the Vatican.  Referring to Luther, Bergoglio proclaimed that “The Church's greatest reformers are the saints, in other words the men and women who follow the Word of the Lord and practice it. This is the path we need to take,” he said, pointing to the statue of one of the most evil heretics in history, “this is what reforms the church and they are great reformers.”  One ravening wolf praising another.  We are now hearing that Bergoglio is drastically curtailing the use of the traditional Mass which his predecessor Ratzinger made readily available to all priests.  His hatred for the Mass rivals that of Luther himself, but then, if he models himself after Luther, if “this is the path we need to take”, why should we be surprised?

Many modern-day Catholics, even traditional Catholics, fail completely to recognize that in Bergoglio we have a false prophet, a ravening wolf in sheep’s clothing.  “Oh, but Father, we’re not supposed to judge!” they say, reprovingly.  I was looking at some YouTube video about Bergoglio’s proposed abolition of the true Mass, and I read in the comments below, the rather pathetic declaration from one Catholic, that: “It saddens me to be hated, actually hated by the Holy Father, because I love the Mass of the Ages.”  What saddens me is that a traditional Catholic who loves the Mass so much is so upset that he is hated by a ravening wolf who is doing his level best to wipe it from the face of the earth!  What saddens me is that in spite of Bergoglio’s manifestly anti-Catholic agenda, a traditional Catholic can still revere this wolf as the “Holy Father” and be so upset to be on his bad side.

“We’re not supposed to judge?”  That’s not what our Lord says.  He says that we must judge people by their actions, and the fruit of their actions.  “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.”  Every good Pope bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt Pope bringeth forth evil fruit.  You judge whether you think the abolition of the Mass that Christ gave us, and the substitution in its place of  the self-worship of man known as the Novus Ordo, is a good fruit of Bergoglio or an evil fruit.  If it’s an evil fruit, then we can certainly judge Bergoglio as a corrupt “pope” that is to be “hewn down”, as our Lord says, “and cast into the fire.”  We can leave the punishment part up to our Lord, as that’s his job—"Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.”  But for now, it’s enough to just recognize by their evil fruits these popes and bishops since Vatican II, and do what’s necessary to protect our faith and that of our families.

If I needed to say more on this subject, I would.  But in this congregation gathered here today, I can’t imagine there’s anyone who has failed to recognize the evil fruit of Vatican II.  If you didn’t, you wouldn’t even be here.  What I’d rather stress to you this morning, is that, while it’s very easy to point the finger at those who are so obviously evil, there’s a very real danger that any of us, at any time, may also fall into the trap of becoming a ravening wolf inside of our own traditional Catholic sheep’s clothing.  How would we do that?  By bringing forth evil fruit.  We must try to ensure that our fruit is good, and that we leave this world a better place for having been in it.

The American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson explained this in natural terms we can all understand: “To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived — that is to have succeeded.”  A healthy child?  I would say, a saintly child would show even greater success.  Or if not quite saintly, then at least a good Catholic child, firm in his or her faith, and a true warrior of Christ.  Maybe some of your children have fallen away from the faith?  They are your fruit, and you must do your best to keep them hanging on your branches.  But if they have fallen off, then it’s still up to you to tend that garden patch Emerson talks about.  Do your best to pick up any fruit you find that’s fallen from the tree into the garden patch, find it and care for it before it rots away and is cast into the fire.  And don’t be led astray by Emerson’s mention of a “redeemed social condition.”  That’s a notion that has been vastly perverted in many cases by liberals into social-ism.  But there are indeed many social conditions that require reform.  Like our ancestors worked for the abolition of slavery, we today have the task of working for the abolition of abortion.  We must work to redeem the sacrament of marriage, which has been under such an onslaught in every way imaginable.  How do we work for such ends?  According to our means, our circumstances and our opportunities.  But we must all start by working on our own family, our own children, making sure every member of our precious inner circle knows God, loves God, and serves God.  We should extend our efforts as our circumstances permit, but at least let’s leave our family a better family than it was before.  As St. Paul in his Epistle today, we must “have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”

As a final thought, let’s remind ourselves that it is in fact on this that we shall be judged.  For just as we may judge others by their fruit, so too will Christ our Lord one day judge us.  “By their fruits ye shall know them.”  Don’t forget—“By our fruits, He will know us.”