Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost

Third Sunday after Pentecost
by Mons. Ignacio Barreiro Carambula

Nothing happens in the realm of grace by mere chance. So two days after the great feast of the Sacred Heart in which we meditated on the love of Jesus for us sinners, today on this Sunday the gospel that the Church has chosen for us makes us ponder on the this great concern of Christ for the salvation of sinners.
In the opening prayer we ask to place our total trust in Jesus. As we remembered in the introit we cannot be saved by our poor and limited efforts because we are destitute and isolated until He comes to our assistance. Recognizing our destitution we place our total trust in Him because without Him nothing is strong, nothing is holy, no one can be saved. Without his guidance and leadership we cannot pass through this world to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.
In the letter of St. Peter we have a classic warning of the struggles which we have to endure in our combat to achieve salvation. Job reminds us that “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” (7:1) Before the beginning of the passage that we have heard, St. Peter, after encouraging the members of the church to obey the priests he exhorted all the member of the community to be humble, and quoting the book of Proverbs he underlined that “God opposes the proud, but gives graces to the humble.” We always have to remember that humility is a typical and perhaps the most basic Christian virtue that is the contrary to the pride of the head of the fallen angel and his minions. Many virtues were known in the classical world, but humility was very rarely mentioned. Humility is as preparatory virtue to receive the Faith, because the humble is always ready to receive the saving instructions that come from God. We have a great example of this humility in the submission of Our Lady at the Annunciation. This basic message is strongly illustrated in the story of the Publican and the Pharisee that went together to pray at the Temple. The publican due to his humility was justified; the Pharisee due to his pride was rejected by God. In the text that we have heard St. Peter echoes the saying of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Matthew where the Lord taught us that, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” (Mt. 23:12) Interestingly enough this text has a direct bearing on the history of the Pharisee and the Publican that I have just mentioned. He then exhorts to place all our anxieties and concerns in God’s hands. This is a key statement about our spiritual life that should be repeated many times and that was reminded to us many times Saint Padre Pio.
St. Peter then points the finger at Satan accusing him rightly of being the unseen but very clear orchestrator and organizer of all the persecutions that the Christians suffer, both the external and the internal. His deadly intentions and predatorial tactics make him comparable to a rapacious lion on the hunt for food. We have abundant witness in the Old Testament on how much lions were feared in antiquity and how they were considered a symbol of the enemy of mankind. At the same time we have to be clear that our enemy is far worse than a lion. A ferocious beast can attacks from the outside, the Principe of lies can try to enter into the inner recesses our minds and souls with all sort of deleterious suggestions using for this purpose the weakness and fears that he knows we suffer. He might even disguise himself as angel of light to deceive us and to lead us into sin. He certainly will use our pride to lead us into perdition that is why humility and purity of heart are so important. So under the protection of our guardian angel we always have to be watchful and be prepared to resist his temptations through the use of right reason and through prayer. We also should be ready to pardon our enemies even if in some occasions we have to fight them with all the determination that it is necessary to stop their evil actions. Perhaps the best way to stop the evil that comes from their actions is to pray for their conversion. But when the actions of the evil ones endanger the innocent they have to be stopped in strongest possible ways using all the moral and legal means at our disposal.
The gospel opens with a fact that as it happened in many occasion on the life of Christ. Publicans and sinners drew near to Jesus to hear him and the Pharisees were scandalized. Jesus was ready to sit at table with those considered sinners. As table fellowship is an expression of friendship and acceptance the Pharisees were scandalized that Jesus ate with disreputable men. In many ways these sinners were closer to salvation than the Pharisees because they recognized their need for a savior to the contrary of the Pharisees who were secure in totally wrong way of their own justification. More so we have to remember that historically the Pharisees were largely responsible of the death Christ. Obviously from theologically we are all responsible through our sins of the death of Christ.
To explain how things were really standing Jesus tells to the Pharisees two parables. The story of the only lost sheep in contrast with the ninety nine that were safe and the story of the lost drachma. These parables indicate that God does not simply welcome penitent sinners but that He seeks them out.
We have to understand that for the listeners of Christ most of whom came from a pastoral world every sheep was valuable and that shepherds would naturally rejoice when they would recover a lost one. In the Old Testament God is depicted in more than one occasion as the Pastor of Israel. Jesus as the Messiah is also depicted as Pastor in many occasions in the different New Testament accounts. At the same time as history shows to us the title of Pastor is also a kingly title. We can see it in the history of the Kings of Israel and of the Rulers of Egypt.
St. Gregory the Great points that Jesus is shepherd that recovers the lost sheep of mankind. Hoisting it upon His shoulder is a symbolic indication on how the takes upon himself both the fallen nature of man and the heavy burden of man’s sins. To understand the value of the lost coin we have remember that a drachma was equivalent to one day’s wage. The conclusion of both parables is that there is great joy before the angels of God over each and every sinner that repents.
Today let us seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be strengthened to resist the temptation and traps of the enemy of mankind an to have faith and hope that the Lord in his infinite love has come to this world to save us from our sins.
May the Lord Bless you and Keep you.
Nothing happens in the realm of grace by mere chance. So two days after the great feast of the Sacred Heart in which we meditated on the love of Jesus for us sinners, today on this Sunday the gospel that the Church has chosen for us makes us ponder on the this great concern of Christ for the salvation of sinners.
In the opening prayer we ask to place our total trust in Jesus. As we remembered in the introit we cannot be saved by our poor and limited efforts because we are destitute and isolated until He comes to our assistance. Recognizing our destitution we place our total trust in Him because without Him nothing is strong, nothing is holy, no one can be saved. Without his guidance and leadership we cannot pass through this world to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.
In the letter of St. Peter we have a classic warning of the struggles which we have to endure in our combat to achieve salvation. Job reminds us that “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” (7:1) Before the beginning of the passage that we have heard, St. Peter, after encouraging the members of the church to obey the priests he exhorted all the member of the community to be humble, and quoting the book of Proverbs he underlined that “God opposes the proud, but gives graces to the humble.” We always have to remember that humility is a typical and perhaps the most basic Christian virtue that is the contrary to the pride of the head of the fallen angel and his minions. Many virtues were known in the classical world, but humility was very rarely mentioned. Humility is as preparatory virtue to receive the Faith, because the humble is always ready to receive the saving instructions that come from God. We have a great example of this humility in the submission of Our Lady at the Annunciation. This basic message is strongly illustrated in the story of the Publican and the Pharisee that went together to pray at the Temple. The publican due to his humility was justified; the Pharisee due to his pride was rejected by God. In the text that we have heard St. Peter echoes the saying of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Matthew where the Lord taught us that, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” (Mt. 23:12) Interestingly enough this text has a direct bearing on the history of the Pharisee and the Publican that I have just mentioned. He then exhorts to place all our anxieties and concerns in God’s hands. This is a key statement about our spiritual life that should be repeated many times and that was reminded to us many times Saint Padre Pio.
St. Peter then points the finger at Satan accusing him rightly of being the unseen but very clear orchestrator and organizer of all the persecutions that the Christians suffer, both the external and the internal. His deadly intentions and predatorial tactics make him comparable to a rapacious lion on the hunt for food. We have abundant witness in the Old Testament on how much lions were feared in antiquity and how they were considered a symbol of the enemy of mankind. At the same time we have to be clear that our enemy is far worse than a lion. A ferocious beast can attacks from the outside, the Principe of lies can try to enter into the inner recesses our minds and souls with all sort of deleterious suggestions using for this purpose the weakness and fears that he knows we suffer. He might even disguise himself as angel of light to deceive us and to lead us into sin. He certainly will use our pride to lead us into perdition that is why humility and purity of heart are so important. So under the protection of our guardian angel we always have to be watchful and be prepared to resist his temptations through the use of right reason and through prayer. We also should be ready to pardon our enemies even if in some occasions we have to fight them with all the determination that it is necessary to stop their evil actions. Perhaps the best way to stop the evil that comes from their actions is to pray for their conversion. But when the actions of the evil ones endanger the innocent they have to be stopped in strongest possible ways using all the moral and legal means at our disposal.
The gospel opens with a fact that as it happened in many occasion on the life of Christ. Publicans and sinners drew near to Jesus to hear him and the Pharisees were scandalized. Jesus was ready to sit at table with those considered sinners. As table fellowship is an expression of friendship and acceptance the Pharisees were scandalized that Jesus ate with disreputable men. In many ways these sinners were closer to salvation than the Pharisees because they recognized their need for a savior to the contrary of the Pharisees who were secure in totally wrong way of their own justification. More so we have to remember that historically the Pharisees were largely responsible of the death Christ. Obviously from theologically we are all responsible through our sins of the death of Christ.
To explain how things were really standing Jesus tells to the Pharisees two parables. The story of the only lost sheep in contrast with the ninety nine that were safe and the story of the lost drachma. These parables indicate that God does not simply welcome penitent sinners but that He seeks them out.
We have to understand that for the listeners of Christ most of whom came from a pastoral world every sheep was valuable and that shepherds would naturally rejoice when they would recover a lost one. In the Old Testament God is depicted in more than one occasion as the Pastor of Israel. Jesus as the Messiah is also depicted as Pastor in many occasions in the different New Testament accounts. At the same time as history shows to us the title of Pastor is also a kingly title. We can see it in the history of the Kings of Israel and of the Rulers of Egypt.
St. Gregory the Great points that Jesus is shepherd that recovers the lost sheep of mankind. Hoisting it upon His shoulder is a symbolic indication on how the takes upon himself both the fallen nature of man and the heavy burden of man’s sins. To understand the value of the lost coin we have remember that a drachma was equivalent to one day’s wage. The conclusion of both parables is that there is great joy before the angels of God over each and every sinner that repents.
Today let us seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be strengthened to resist the temptation and traps of the enemy of mankind an to have faith and hope that the Lord in his infinite love has come to this world to save us from our sins.
May the Lord Bless you and Keep you.