Sermon for the 14thSunday after Pentecost, August 29th, 2021 – Serving two lords…

 

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

 

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

 

Today Holy Church gives us St Paul’s words to the Galatians to contemplate: “Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit: and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another.” He thereby comments Our Lord’s words from the sermon on the mount: “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Mammon means earthly possessions in as far as they are not rightly acquired or possessed. In this sense it comprises all things on earth in as far as they are an obstacle or an hindrance to serve God, Our Lord and Creator.

Whenever things are over-simplified, we need to be aware that there is something fishy in this. In German we call this “Engführung – narrowing down”. In psychology you can call it an obsession. There is nothing wrong with a strong idea; a leading thought; a red thread running through your thinking and your actions. But this is very different from narrowing virtually everything down to just one thought or fact.

Feeneyites are obsessed with what they call the “dogma of salvation”. They forget about all the rest of theology. But a dogma is always connected to all other dogmas, and you are not allowed to lose sight of the greater picture.

Mammonites are obsessed with money. They forget about all other aspects of life, which becomes a simple function of money. But you are not going to be able to eat money (because it stinks!) when things get tough, and it is very wrong to weigh all aspects of life against money.

Many Catholics are obsessed with solving the problem in the Church, that she has no hierarchy or authority (a Pope). They scrutinize entire theological libraries in order to find the solution. But they are going round in circles because such a situation has never existed before, and therefore theology and the magisterium have not dealt with this situation ex professo or authoritatively; and the solution cannot be found in books.

St Paul gives us the solution of the dilemma by enumerating the effects or the fruit of serving either one lord or the other (for the essential battle for dominance is going on inside our own self): the works of the flesh as opposed to the fruit of the spirit, in today’s Epistle… And Our Lord and Savior teaches us what we are so reluctant and stupid to learn – “o stulti corde… O foolish, and slow of heart… (Lk 24:25): “Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body more than the raiment? (…) O ye of little faith! Be not solicitous therefore, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathen seek.” Then he draws the only permissible conclusion which requires more than a little faith: “For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Everyone has the same problems. As Catholics we are the only ones to have the true solution; but we are usually most unwilling to accept it as such.

AB Lefebvre wrote to Fr Guérard des Lauriers who provided him with a watertight argument regarding the formal vacancy of the See of Peter, that he found this over-simplified, and that he preferred practical solutions to the problem. It just so happens that his followers are still at it; and that he simply mistook an explanation for a solution. The explanation must come from theology. The solution must come from Christ because the Church is His Spouse, and not our piece of cake!

We have the ground solid Great Commandment – and we make so little case of it although Our Lord says that all of God’s revelation – the law and the Prophets – are resumed in it.

We have the good, substantial and soul-nourishing prayers that the Church has given us. The acts of Faith, Hope and Charity, and the act of Contrition in their proper form contain the quintessence of theology in these matters, namely the formal reason why we believe, why we hope, why we love… Practically no one is interested in those. Rather one chooses a lighter and shorter form which is deficient; while another prefers an inflated form which hides the formal element among many words and expressions (drowning the fish, as the French say).

“Non multa, sed multum. - Not many, but much.” Not many different things, but much of one thing. We don’t need 36 guiding principles for our Christian conduct; but we need to deduct all things from the Great Commandment, or reduce our actions, words and thoughts to it, “for one thing only is necessary” (cf Lk 10:42). Holy Church in today’s Mass gives us similar thoughts:

“Behold, O God, our protector, and look on the face of Thy Christ: for better is one day in Thy courts above thousands.” (Intr., Ps 83:10-11). One day spent close to God is better than thousands spent far from Him!

“It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man. It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes.” (Grad., Ps 117:8-9) Nothing illustrates this better than the craze which has been going on for the past one-and-a-half years! A state gone wild, a state playing Providence or “daddy-taking-care-of-it” (“der Papa wird’s schon richten…”) is not only a mad concept, it is also ungodly and anti-godly. For there is but one divine Father who provides for all in the best manner possible. No state can do this, or should pretend to do it.

So let us firmly determine our own self, our mind and will, to serve this best of Fathers, “the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” (1Tim 6:15) Let us stop trying wasting our time in order to obtain the best of both worlds: “No man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

 

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

P. Arnold Trauner (paterarnold@hotmail.com), njemački i engleski

Sermon for the 11thSunday after Pentecost, August 8th, 2021 – Effeta (from Aug. 9, 2015)

 

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

 

My dearly beloved in Our Lord,

 

Holy Mother Church really wants to drive home this point during the time after Pentecost: “By God's grace I am what I am...” (Epistle, end)

St Paul reminds the first Christians that he himself is a tremendous example of the efficiency of God's grace. He who in good faith had persecuted God's Church, has literally been humbled – he had been thrown off his horse on his way to imprison Christians in Damascus – and then exalted by God's grace, even as far as to being counted among the Apostles and the Prince of the Apostles alongside St Peter.

In the Gospel Our Lord heals a man who can neither hear nor speak. This is our condition if we are without God's grace: We cannot make proper use of our senses which should be the physical instruments of our sanctification. Neither can we understand the word of God – the teaching of Our Lord and of Holy Church – nor can we properly use our tongue to honor and praise God as He deserves to be honored and praised by his reasonable creatures.

The good use of our tongue is particularly important and difficult.

St James in his epistle consecrates the greater part of chapter 3 to the christian duty of mastering one's tongue. “He who does not offend in his speech, is a perfect man... (v. 2) Thus the tongue is a small organ and presumes of great things (v. 5)” The whole passage (Jam 3, 1-12) is very much worth reading and re-reading!

The Imitation of Christ gives us precious hints in book 1, chapters 10 & 20. “A bad habit and the neglect of our tending to perfection is an important reason for our not holding back our tongue... (ch. 10) It is easier to keep total silence, than to keep the measure in speaking... No-one speaks securely who does not love to be silent... (ch. 20)”

It is an important duty for parents to educate their children in such a way that their natural curiosity in hearing and the profusion in talking is cut back to a virtuous measure. For this is an important effect of original sin and a vicious form of being self-centered (egoistic); and it is impossible that purity of mind and of body be kept for any long time by children as they grow up if their curiosity has not been properly mastered and brought under control!

For the adult it is very difficult – according to the teaching of St James – to stay out of trouble in talking. Either we talk too much – which occurs by far more often – or too little.

The discernment – when to speak and when to remain silent – is a difficult one. Each one of us should know his natural inclination and default in this matter, and act accordingly to acquire true virtue.

Female discretion is a very important thing, especially for a married wife. Since women normally are rather inclined to talk too much, a wife can only be a good and precious companion and counselor to her husband if she is discreet, i.e. if she knows to hold back her tongue normally – for only then her words will be appreciated and truly useful.

One thorny matter with regards to our duty of charity is what we call fraternal correction. This properly concerns the serious duty to keep our neighbor away from sin or from the proximate occasion of sin. There is a strict obligation to correct our neighbor if all of the following conditions apply:

- The person is in a true spiritual necessity. This is the case if we know that the sin or the will to commit a sin is certain, or if a person does not better himself without our correction, or if no-one else corrects that person. If we can presume that the person is sinning through invincible ignorance, then there is no duty to correct him unless there is damage being done through his actions.

- There is a great spiritual necessity – which is the case whenever mortal sin is involved.

- There is reasonable hope of the person bettering himself. So there is normally no need to correct people whom we do not know (e.g. on the train, in the street...). Sometimes it is better to leave the correction for a later time, when true amendment can be more readily be expected – e.g. wait to correct someone until his passion of anger etc. has calmed down!

- The correction can be done without serious disadvantage for yourself. This does not apply to those who have an obligation to correct others according to the position that they are holding. Thus parents must correct their children for the reason of piety (lat. pietas, i.e. in virtue of the IV^th commandment) even at the risk of great personal disadvantage.

Whenever all of these conditions apply, there is a serious duty to correct one's neighbor. This can be done through words, but also sometimes it is enough to give a decisive look; or to turn a conversation to a different topic; or to withhold one's support from the person.

The order to be kept is according to Our Lord's words in the Gospel (Mt 18,15-17; cf. Lk 17,3): First you must correct the person under four eyes (alone); if this fails, you take one or two persons into your confidence (in order to be more convincing); only if this also proves to be fruitless you must tell the authority.

This matter of fraternal correction with all its distinctions and sub-distinctions should be well known and well considered by all adults. Today we have no “normal” authority in place which would usually correct abuses. So much more must we endeavor to accomplish any duty which comes from charity. – And God alone knows how many sins have been, and still are being committed by wrongly applying correction to our neighbor!

St Paul encourages the Ephesians (4,15) “to practice the truth in charity”. And after having admonished the Galatians to practice charity, he exhorts them that while they are biting each other they may be careful not to be devoured all together (5,15)!

“Ephphetha!” (Gospel) May our senses be opened for that which is godly, and closed to all that which is ungodly. May God's grace, truth, wisdom and charity strengthen our mind and body (cf. Post-communio prayer) so that we in turn may be no more darkness, but “light in the Lord” (Eph 5,8), having become similar to the great mysteries celebrated by Holy Church these days, in the Transfiguration of Our Lord and Savior, and the bodily Assumption of Our Blessed Lady.

 

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

P. Arnold Trauner (paterarnold@hotmail.com), njemački i engleski