Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, March 7th, 2021

 Sermon for the 3^rd Sunday of Lent, March 7^th, 2021

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

Today we are admonished by St Paul to live as the children of light, after having been darkness. Light comes from God who is the light, and it produces good effects or fruits: bounty, justice, truth. Darkness comes from ungodliness – not from an “anti-god”; it is a privation of light, the taking away of some of the light by the ill will of the angelic or human creature. (In Hell there is fire, but without the consoling light that earthly fire grants us.)

Therefore Our Lord exhorts us to discern the spirits: That which is disunited bears in itself the seed of death and cannot subsist over time. We shall judge the spirit at work – in our own self, and around us in other individuals or in society – by its fruit.

We must always bear in mind: Even though we need to discern what kind of spirit animates an individual or a community, the definite judgment of an individual’s conscience is not ours. Only God can judge a man’s conscience: “scrutans corda et renes Deus – God scrutinizes the hearts and the reins” (cf. Ps 7,10 et passim).

In the case of real demonic possession it is evident that the evil spirit is at work, it even takes over the bodily faculties of the possessed person, at times. But still, there is no necessary link between the demonic possession and the individual’s state of sin or grace, anything is possible in this area.

It is very important that we discern which spirit is at work, in our own self; and in each given community or society: family, country,... even in our religious communities nowadays since the authority whose office it is to make this discernment regarding religion, is not being exercised.

For that which concerns individuals, I will not re-state the rules of discernment here. I have done so in the past, and the rules can easily be found in the retreat book of St Ignatius of Loyola (towards the end of the Exercises, n°s 314-336).

Each family must be alert, and able to practice this discernment. Decisions need to be made every day; major decisions quite frequently, especially when there is a certain number of children and they are growing up. Things keep changing, necessarily, and so the adjustments must be made appropriately. The discernment has its place particularly in the reflection and consideration which precedes the decision-making. Since the family as such does not “go to Heaven” (“For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the angels of God in heaven.” Mt 22,30), the important question is: What will this or that decision bring about with regards to the spiritual welfare of the individuals concerned? And this question must be answered all while keeping in mind the common good of the family.

What is the common good? The universal and supreme common good is God! He is the supreme good, the infinitely good one; and also He has appointed Himself as our good by calling us to the participation of this beatitude, through the means of the supernatural life of grace.

The “modern” mind has made a complete mess of this reality. It has postulated – starting with the shift made during the Renaissance – that there are autonomous goods, especially the human good, independent from the divine common good. Just think of Wojtyla’s “theology of the body”! Secular humanism means nothing else: Mankind has its own goal; man here on earth is not primarily destined towards Heaven or Hell. It is the splitting of that which God has united, the natural and the supernatural world, in the human soul. The modern mindset is, in this sense, truly soul-destroying!

So for example on the family level, many children have been kept from pursuing or trying a religious or priestly vocation “for family reasons”: an only child; some material benefit expected from a marriage or career etc. Such a behavior is extremely unreasonable if it puts the good of the family and the individual good into an unnatural conflict. Only very particular circumstances can justify such a way of action: e.g. the only son and heir of a royal or princely couple who must succeed his father to the throne; or a child who must care for his or her aging parents who would otherwise live in misery. In the first case the common good of the nation supersedes the individual common good, and in the second case the piety ordered by the 4^th divine commandment has priority “rebus sic stantibus – while the situation is such”.

The immediate good of the family is the virtuous upbringing of the children which is ultimately ordered towards the divine common good. So this must always retain the first place in the mind of those who administer the authority, the parents – the father with the help of his companion, the mother. This very easily shows how the rules – the laws for the domestic community, if you want – must be made and sanctioned: virtue, true Christian virtue must be the first concern.

Anything that contributes to spoil the children must be banned, e.g.: It is little conducive to the practice of virtue if parents do what the children can already do by themselves – tidying up, taking over small chores or responsibilities... When an order has been given, its implementation must be demanded and controlled; when a task has been given, some kind of feed-back or account must be demanded from the child.

There are several good reasons, besides the overall pursuing of the common good, for such a way of action.

The children must learn to respect the principle of subsidiarity. Each level of society must do what it can; and the superior level must let it do that, without interfering unnecessarily. What cannot be achieved on the lower level must be done by the next higher one, and so forth. E.g. if you do a reparation in the house, it would be plainly stupid to ask a six year old child to climb on a ladder, undo screws or light-bulbs etc. But he or she can assist by turning a switch on or off at your command so you do not need to climb up and down unnecessarily...

Not to give reasonable responsibilities to the children; or not to ask them to give an account concerning something you told them to do, is to favor chaos. Chaos right here and now; chaos also in the future life of your children because they will not have learned that things they do, or don’t do, have consequences!

Thus at least from time to time, or when something new or unexpected happens, you must ask yourself: Which way is this taking our family... this or that child...? Is this a development for the better, or for the worse...? The good movements or ideas must be accepted, the bad ones rejected. This is what discernment means.

We also must cast a cautious glance at the larger community, that of the country or the state. It is obvious that the law of God and the natural law are not considered to be the foundation of the state anymore. So how can one still operate any kind of discernment there?

The immediate common good of the state or of the civil society is to procure the conditions so that people can live in peace. Order and calm are the constituent parts of peace. This is necessary to keep in view, for any given civil society, because it fosters the individuals’ progress towards Heaven, the ultimate common good.

Basically all countries are now being ruled under the unique aspect of money and economy. Money is the common good of the current liberal, atheistic and materialistic ideology. Its form of government is, consequentially, plutocracy. This plutocracy – the rule of the wealthy – is labeled democracy – rule of the people. So was and is communism...

Money is only legitimate as a means simplifying the exchange of goods and services. Any kind of “money business” as it is now conducted by banks, insurances etc. is entirely immoral in as far as it is a business where money is supposed to make money. But that is complete non-sense, to put it mildly. Money cannot have children. It surpasses the classical idea of the “perpetuum mobile”, something that keeps moving without any input of energy. Here it is a crazy machinery where through all kinds of immoral dealings the richer become richer by sucking the marrow out of the bones of those who really create wealth by their labor. Those who really work are fed with numbing mass media products and just enough rubbish-food so they can survive. Labor and entrepreneurship are not properly rewarded any longer. The present economic system is “panem et circenses” on an extremely cynical level. Politics only follows suit and does in fact not care for the true good of the state.

The goal of this kind of dis-society is easy to discern: It is nothing less but the holistic enslavement of the human mind and body by the means of an unspeakable materialism, a sad but real foretaste of Hell. Thus it is clear upon whose inspiration such a system has been erected and is kept going. It produces totally “failed states” if measured by the standards and exigencies of Christian philosopy.

The situation in the state is quite similar to that in the Church: the authority is not operational, but occupied by puppets.

It is similar, but not the same! Divine revelation has procured us with the necessary knowledge and the means to deal with the religious situation as it has been over the last almost six decades – and this is supremely necessary so that the souls of good will can still be saved.

For the worldly domain we have no such divine revelation allowing us to draw a neat conclusion: “This is no more the authority”. But this is not immediately necessary for the sake of our souls. An extremely poorly administered authority is better than total anarchy or chaos.

If Our Lord, the universal King, has chosen to give such great power to the “prince of this world”, then certainly for our true good, by the means of purifying our souls and making reparation for sins.

The basic discernment being made, what is the solution? Just as for the situation of the Church, the solution itself is not in our hands. It must come from God; we can only survive.

Each Catholic can and must live according to the God-given standards and never betray his principles.

Each family – where the God-given authority still exists and can be administered properly – can and must survive as a rock standing out in the middle of almost universal shipwreck. Living among a depraved and perverse generation (cf. Phil 2,15; Mt 17,16; Lk 9,41) we must be careful not to become depraved and perverse ourselves, but live as children of the light in the midst of the surrounding darkness.

May Our Lady of Good Counsel be our unfailing guide and example in our quest of eternal bliss!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.