Sunday Sermon, December 30 -- Jesus' Obedience to Joseph and Mary, and Obedience in Our Lives

A preliminary note regarding two common heretical errors people (even priests) often make when interpreting the Sunday Gospel about the Child Jesus being found in the Temple after he was lost for three days.

First, "He grew in wisdom and age and favor before God and men." Our Lord Jesus did not "grow in knowledge" simply speaking through his life, for he knew everything from the first moment of his conception. However, he grew in knowledge "before God and men," meaning that the perfection of his knowledge was progressively revealed to men - indeed, the very revelation of this passage of St Luke's Gospel is that Christ's perfect wisdom aroused admiration in men.

Second, "Son, why have you done this to us?" We must never think that Jesus was in any way disobedient to Joseph and Mary, or that he ever did anything that was less than perfect. In fact, the very point of this passage is that "Jesus was obedient to them" - the Christ Child is the model of obedience, who give true honor to his foster-father and mother. Indeed, Jesus' obedience to Joseph and Mary reveals the perfect obedience he has as man to his heavenly Father.

The obedience of Christ is a model for our own obedience. Charity is the virtue which brings the soul to perfection, but three other virtues protect and advance charity in the soul: Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. Poverty consecrates our external possessions to God, chastity consecrates our body to God, but obedience (which is most interior, and therefore most necessary) consecrates our heart to God.

Our obedience to God is expressed and realized in our obedience to them God has placed in authority over us. Children, obey your parents. Wives, obey your husbands. Men, obey your pastors and your government.


Listen online [here]!

Christmas Sermon, December 25th -- The Eucharistic Mystery in Christ's Birth

Christ is born in Bethlehem, which means "House of Bread." He is laid in a manger, which is a food basket for the animals. He would one day teach us that he is the "Bread of Life." The shepherds of Bethlehem who came to adore him were those entrusted with watching over the sheep which would be sacrificed in Jerusalem for the nation of Israel - and now they adore the true Lamb of God.

They circumstances of Christ's birth point us to the Eucharistic Mystery of his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.


Listen online [here]!

Sunday Sermon, December 23 -- Even the Protestants Become Catholic at Christmas

Christmas is a time to emphasize Christian unity, and there are many graces available to bring about conversion. In this sermon, we present a number of arguments or examples which show that even the most fundamentalist Protestants can't help but become a little bit Catholic at Christmas time.

1) The veneration of holy images and of saints, in the Nativity Scenes.
2) Greater attention given to Mary so as to come more fully to Jesus, in Christmas songs.
3) Celebrating "man-made" Holy Days, in the very celebration of Christmas.

The deeper reality that draws Protestants to a Catholic manner of worship during Christmas season is that the mystery of Christmas is the incarnation, that God truly became Man. The real heresy of Martin Luther and the other Protestants turns out to be a rejection of the importance of Christ's humanity.


Listen online [here]!

Advent Adult Ed Course on the Traditional Latin Mass for the Church Today (December 4th, 11th, 18th)

We consider the significance of the various words and gestures of the priest during the Traditional Latin Mass, and how we can more fully participate in the Traditional Mass. Further, we point out many ways in which the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass is helpful for both the priest and the people, and how the Traditional Mass will bring a much needed healing to a deep wound of division which has occurred in the Church in the years since the Second Vatican Council - the Church today seems almost to be divided against herself, her history, her tradition, and her Mass.

Sunday Sermon, December 16th -- The Right to War, The Right to Private Property, and Love of the Poor

St John the Baptist gives an implicit approval of both just war and private property when the people come to ask him "What should we do?"  To the rich, he does not deny the right to private property, but only says they should be generous to the poor. And, to the soldiers, he does not deny the right of nations to go to war (in just circumstances), but only commands them to be good soldiers.

Nations have a right to wage war either for their own defense or the defense of their rights, or even for the defense of weaker peoples who are suffering oppression. Still, this should only be a last resort - as war does bring much suffering.  The right of nations to wage war is a safeguard to check unjust aggression and greed.

Individuals have a right to private property, and this is why communism and socialism are true heresies which Catholics must reject. Socialist strive to take the wealth of the rich and redistribute it to the poor, and they further strive to subject the family to the whim of the State (redifining the nature of marriage and family life). We note that the democratic party in the USA is dangerous close to socialism, and the Church (Bl Pius IX and St John XXIII especially) has stated that a Catholic cannot be a socialist.

But private wealth is meant to be not only for the benefit of the rich, but also to be used to relieve the sufferings of the poor. If we desire to grow in a love for the poor (which is one of the essential fruits of the Christmas mystery), we can look to the great saints (like St Wenceslaus) and to our Lord (who became poor so that we might be made spiritually rich).


Listen online [here]!