ALIVE UNTO GOD

 A SERMON FOR THE 6TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

What is the greatest good that exists?  The answer of course is God.  God is supremely, infinitely, and perfectly good in all his aspects.  But for us, what is the greatest good that we can achieve?

When we think of goodness in our lives, we tend to think in natural terms.  This is to be expected as we live a physical life in the midst of natural and material things.  We have relationships with others in this framework of the natural, some of which we treasure, others not so much.  We own physical property, homes, automobiles; we take vacations, we have hobbies, we indulge in many varied interests in order to make our lives as happy and fulfilled as possible.  All this is “good”.  But of course, it is not the supreme good that should be the chief aim of our life.  We know what that chief aim is—God—but it’s worth repeating.  In fact the Church does repeat it today, in both the Epistle and Gospel.

St. Paul explains at length how we should reckon ourselves dead unto sin but alive unto God.  For it is God, that supreme, infinite and perfect Good, who is the ultimate good that we must seek.  It is only in union with God, being “alive unto God” as St. Paul says, that we shall ever find that perfect happiness, that perfect good for ourselves.  And the way to God is through our Lord Jesus Christ, through him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life—“alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  The Gospel provides us with exactly how we may be united with God in this life—through the reception of the Holy Eucharist, the Bread of Heaven symbolized by the seven loaves in today’s miracle of the Feeding of the Multitude.

So where does this leave us?  If we seek the greatest possible good for ourselves, we must seek union with God.  Union with God is made available to us in this life through Holy Communion, which is itself only a series of temporary previews of the eternal life with God that will be ours in heaven if we continue to follow Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The alternative is something we prefer not to think about.  There are only two alternatives—heaven and hell.  Either we shall have everlasting union with God or never-ending separation from God.  One or the other fates shall be ours.  Just as union with God is the supreme good that we can achieve, separation from God is the supreme evil that constantly beckons us as we give in to sin after sin.  There is no worse fate than this.  Mortal sin is for us the direct opposite of Holy Communion.  Communion joins us to God, mortal sin separates us.  These are the two polar opposites in what is most important in our lives.  Holy Communion and Mortal Sin foreshadow the ultimate destiny that awaits us, heaven or hell.

This is illustrated most clearly every year on Good Friday.  Did you ever wonder why the Church for two thousand years did not give Holy Communion to the faithful on Good Friday?  It’s because it was on that first Good Friday that the Son of God himself was separated from his Father in heaven.  “My God, my God,” he cried out in his last agony, “why hast thou forsaken me?”  Insofar as he is God, Christ could never be separated from God the Father.  The two are one and always shall be, along with the Holy Ghost, the blessed Trinity, coeternal and in constant union one with each other.  However, insofar as Christ was a man, his human nature was in a sense torn apart from God on the cross, the weight and filth of the sins of the world preventing him from remaining in his Father’s presence.  Thus he died, as one day we all will, alone.  It was unthinkable that as Christ suffers the supreme evil of separation from God, we sinful creatures should shamble up to the communion rail to unite ourselves with God.  Who are we that we should be given what our blessed Lord was deprived of on this day?

It took the modernists to break two thousand years of this respectful tradition.  In the early 1950s the freemasons modernized the ancient Good Friday liturgy, replacing the solemn desolation of the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified with “Communion as usual.”  Just another day on which we can receive Communion, rather than following our suffering Saviour in his desolation and separation from God.  That the Novus Ordo would promote this disrespectful act of distributing holy Communion on Good Friday is hardly surprising as it’s part of their conspiracy against all things holy.  That so-called traditional groups like the SSPX and the CMRI would blindly follow this practice is, to say the least, unfortunate.  Their undoubted sincerity does not eradicate the objective blasphemy against the Church’s holy tradition of respecting the desolation of our blessed Lord.

In this Chapel of St. Margaret Mary, we have the constant reminder from our patron saint how we may best achieve the fulfillment of all our Holy Communions, that eternal union with God in heaven.  It comes in the form of the nine First Fridays, a request from our Lord that comes with a powerful assurance:  “I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the first Fridays of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under my displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, my divine Heart making itself their assured refuge at the last moment.” 

This promise by our Lord is a powerful guarantee, assuring us of the opportunity to die in the state of grace, to save our soul in its last torments, and to achieve that everlasting union with God that is our chief aim and ultimate good.  It is our blessed assurance that we may avoid the ultimate evil of the fires of hell which is our separation from God. 

And by the way, if you’re planning to make the Nine First Fridays and have not yet done so, there is no point starting next month on the First Friday of August.  Why not?  Because if you do, you will find out that the ninth and last of your First Fridays will be on April 7 of 2023, and that day is Good Friday.  No Mass, no Holy Communion, no fulfillment of your First Friday commitment.  By all means, go to Mass on the first Fridays between now and then, just be aware that you will not be able to make the full “nine” First Fridays as described by our blessed Lord to St. Margaret Mary. 

There’s no doubt that the promise of the Nine First Fridays is a great gift from God.  However, we may save our souls even without making them, as all the saints that lived before St. Margaret Mary bear witness.  What’s truly essential is that we start by making that primary choice between heaven and hell, between what God wants from us versus what we want for ourselves.  Once we make that choice, we must then do what is required.  We must receive Holy Communion regularly, at least once a year, or fall into mortal sin.  It’s one or the other, and the result is also one or the other, heaven or hell. After our Lord’s feeding of the multitude, he went on to say exactly that: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.“  Holy Communion makes the difference between heaven and hell.  Whether it means just fasting for three hours, or going to Confession, or making a total change in the way you lead your life, for the sake of your soul, see to it that you do what’s necessary so you can receive this Sacrament of Life Everlasting.  “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”