Friday, March 29, AD 2024 4:00am

Don the Kiwi on the Hard Sayings

christ-and-the-rich-young-ruler

 

Long time commenter Don the Kiwi is a Deacon, and in line with my Hard Sayings post, here,  has sent me a homily he recently preached.  I only wish I had been present to hear him deliver it!

 

 

Life is very much about CHOICES, and the decisions that stem from them.  Should I buy a good second hand car, or a new one?   Should we send our son to university to gain a degree, or should  he take up a trade?  Should we go to a movie, or watch TV?  Should we take the kids to McDonalds  or Burger King?  The choices we make  affect our livelihoods, our lifestyles, our entertainment  and how we fill our bellies – some  decisions  are important, and some  quite trivial.  The choices we have and the decisions we make, can have positive or negative consequences in our lives. Some decisions are right, and unfortunately, some are wrong. And we can be sure that the choices we make also affect our prospects of eternal life.

Over recent weeks the gospels have been giving us warnings. In today’s gospel, Jesus is asked, ” Will there be only a few saved?” Jesus shifts the focus with a metaphor  – “Try your best to enter by the narrow gate, because I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.” He is suggesting HOW we can be saved, rather than how MANY will be saved. Gates separate those on the inside from those on the outside, and this suggests that we need some qualification to get through that gate. The gate is narrow – so we can’t bring all  our baggage with us because there is insufficient width. We would need something to  identify us  to ensure that we qualify- an invitation or a ticket. We would need to know the person inside to be able to get in, and we would have to follow certain rules and fulfil certain obligations to be allowed in.

Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” The narrow gate is the Way – Jesus. The baggage we carry  is our sins, our wrong ideas, our poor choices and bad decisions, which we must leave behind if we wish to enter through the gate. Our identifying mark – our invitation – is our Baptism, which allows us to participate in the life of God; and we need to know Jesus, the person inside the door. But if we don’t follow the rules and fulfil our obligations, we will not gain entry.

The Evangelical Christians proclaim, “All you have to do is accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, and you will be saved.” That is a very good start, but that’s all it is – a start. We need to do much more. So let’s ask the question again -” will there be only a few saved?”  This prompts  us to think about  the Church’s teaching on the Four Last Things – Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.  Some would have us believe that ALL will get to Heaven.  Some years ago a friend told me that “there’s really no such place as Hell – Hell was invented to make children do as they are told.”  Really??? Jesus mentions Hell about 46 times in the gospels. If there is no Hell, then why the Judgement? Why Jesus sacrifice on the cross for our sins? Some say that very few will go to Hell. Our Lady told the children at Fatima, that “souls are falling to Hell like leaves from a tree because of impurity and immorality.” So Hell does indeed exist. But let’s not dwell so much on whether or not only a few will be saved, but rather on how we can ensure that we are saved. And again, this involves choices.         

Salvation comes from Christ, through His Holy  Catholic  Church with its commandments, and  emphasis on Sacraments – particularly the Sacrament of Holy Communion – Eucharist – and the sacrament of Penance – Confession and Reconciliation, where we sinners receive the mercy and compassion of God. The Church says that we must attend Mass on  Sunday. I have a choice to make  My friend Rick has invited me to go fishing on Sunday morning, and I wasn’t able to get along to the Vigil Mass. Do I forego the enjoyment of a fishing trip and go to Mass, or do I give Mass a miss? If I choose to go fishing instead of to Mass, I have committed a serious sin,  and should not present myself for Holy Communion until I have confessed the sin and received absolution in Reconciliation. A recent survey in the United States found that only about 40% of so called strong Catholics believed that Jesus is really and substantially present in the consecrated host in Holy Communion. If we hold such a belief, again,  we should not present ourselves for Holy Communion. Our Holy Father Pope Francis said recently,if we are not rigid in our Faith, we are on the path to apostacy. There will be some who are lost because they fail to choose the Narrow Gate – they prefer a religion that is not too demanding and does not make it a sacred duty to attend Mass every Sunday, that Holy  communion is just a symbol and not really the real presence of Jesus. Life really is about choices.

 

 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Real Love is an act of the will – an act of the intellect –  not emotion, not a response to nice feelings; because real love is sometimes hard or difficult. Real love is sacrificial as Jesus showed us with His passion and death, and often is not necessarily a pleasant experience. Intellect always trumps emotion. Sure, sometimes we may feel deep emotion, but that is a response to our act of the will – not the cause. If we respond purely with emotion, all we will want is Nice things – we will shy away from difficult decisions which may have hurtful effects. The point  is, Christ’s Church is not a Church of Nice – it is a Church of Truth. If we want everything to be Nice, we fall into the trap that secularism has fallen into. 

     

It’s our choice –  many do not choose the  Truth,  for example, many politicians,  choose what is nice , or popular, or expedient to satisfy vocal minorities or pressure groups, and they pass laws accordingly. But legality is not morality – many laws are, in fact, intrinsically evil.  We just need to look at some of the laws passed over recent years: Legalised prostitution – the enslavement and debasement of women; Abortion – the legalised killing of the most vulnerable and innocent in our society -is  it any  surprise that child abuse is so prevalent  when we legalise the ultimate in child abuse. And most recently, same sex marriage – which places sodomy on the same level as the proper intended union between a man and a woman in sacramental marriage.   Again, if we hold any of these beliefs either in full or in part as being correct and moral, we put ourselves outside of Communion until we have conformed our beliefs to the properly ordered teachings of the Church and received absolution in the sacrament of Confession.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

So who will be saved? God desires that all people be saved – that is why He created us- to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life, and be happy with Him forever in the next life. God, in His infinite mercy and compassion, provides us with all the means to regain His favour in the event of our falling into sin. That is why the Church, from its very beginning focused on going out to all the world and proclaiming the Good News. Salvation is a gift from God, available to everyone, sealed in the sacrifice of Jesus by His death on the cross. Christian life is a daily struggle to lift ourselves to a greater love and knowledge of God, and live our lives in humility, obedience and faithfulness. Baptism does not guarantee us salvation, and it is wrong to just sit back and relax once we have made a commitment to Christ, otherwise we will become complacent and grow stagnant in our relationship with God.  Let us all then, make sure that the choices we have, and the decisions we make, are in conformity with the will of God, and so secure our own salvation.

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Paul W Primavera
Saturday, September 7, AD 2013 9:33pm

I like this sermon!

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Sunday, September 8, AD 2013 12:03am

[…] Madeleine Teahan Conversion Story of Fr. Jurgen Liias – The Coming Home Net Internat’l Don the Kiwi on the Hard Sayings – Don the Kiwi, The New Zealand Cthlc A Church on the Way- Pretzels & Pilgrims – […]

richard
richard
Sunday, September 8, AD 2013 5:10am

The will to keep the commitment we make.

anzlyne
anzlyne
Sunday, September 8, AD 2013 12:50pm

Thank you Deacon- I take these words of yours to heart. Christian life is indeed a daily struggle to lift our hearts.
As you say reliance on the Church and sacraments is key. The old teaching of “practicing” virtue makes us more likely to make the right choices in our behavior- even when it is a sudden or unplanned choice. The devil is very subtle and tricky!
We trust that the Church has the Authority, at HIs Word, to teach us, which makes our choices and discernment easier. For those parishioners in doubt about the non-negotiables you mention-follow the Church as you continue to form (listen to) your conscience.
It is important that people understand that Conscience is not something we make up out of whole cloth. — The truths you mention are “givens” and our conscience is not an entity of ours, or even our personal “head office” but instead a herald from God.( Veratatis Splendor)

Don the Kiwi
Don the Kiwi
Monday, September 9, AD 2013 3:06am

Thanks all for your comments.

You’re right Anzlyne, that our conscience can be distorted by our own subjective views and leanings. The key is to ensure that our conscience is a ‘properly formed conscience’, and not something we have diverted and perverted, which has become increasingly difficult in today’s society. The Great Deceiver always uses a part of the Truth to mislead us.

WK Aiken
WK Aiken
Monday, September 9, AD 2013 8:08am

Thanks, D the K. The paragraph that begins “Jesus says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments . . .’ is the best answer yet for the old excuse that so many of my fallen-away Catholic friends give for not continuing on: “When I go to Mass, I’m just not feeln’ it.”

Thanks for the ammo!

philip
philip
Monday, September 9, AD 2013 12:57pm

Downunder Don dials it in.
Thanks.
Faith formation shouldn’t end at senior high. If Catholics of all ages and stages of life would participate in reviewing the C.C.C. in a group setting it, in my modest opinion, would help form the consciences.
Direction and inspirations from The Holy Spirit is needed.

Don the Kiwi
Don the Kiwi
Monday, September 9, AD 2013 9:16pm

Downunder Don dials it in.”

I like it 🙂

Thanks philip

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Sunday, September 15, AD 2013 8:46pm

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